New Crew for ISS

New Crew for International Space Station

Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt of the 19th International Space Station crew launched in their Soyuz TMA-14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:49 a.m. EDT Thursday to begin a six-month stay in space. Less than 10 minutes after launch their spacecraft reached orbit. Its antennas and solar arrays were deployed shortly afterward.

With Padalka and Barratt is second-time spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. Simonyi previously flew to the station in April 2007 as a spaceflight participant with the Expedition 15 crew. Simonyi will return to Earth with Expedition 18 crew members, Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, in their Soyuz TMA-13 on April 7.

Expedition 18 launched to the station Oct. 12. Expedition 19 crew members will be welcomed by the Expedition 18 crew, including Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, after their docking to the orbiting laboratory, scheduled for Saturday. Wakata launched to the station on the STS-119 mission of Discovery March 15. He joined Expedition 18 in progress and will provide Expedition 19 with an experienced flight engineer for its increment.

For the latest news and information on the STS-119 mission, visit the main shuttle page. › Read more Padalka, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, will command the Expedition 19 mission and also serve as Soyuz commander. He previously served as commander of Expedition 9 in 2004. During Padalka's first stay at the International Space Station, he performed four spacewalks. Barratt will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 19. He served as lead crew surgeon for the first Expedition crew to the station from July 1998 until he was selected as an astronaut candidate. This will be his first spaceflight. Wakata will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 18, 19 and 20. Wakata will be the first resident station crew member from JAXA. He will return to Earth on STS-127.

Image above: The Soyuz TMA-14 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, March 26, 2009 carrying Expedition 19 Commander Gennady I. Padalka, Flight Engineer Michael R. Barratt and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi to the International Space Station. (Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Hubble Photographs Another World

First Snap shots of a planet circling another star!!

Image above: Artist's concept of the star Fomalhaut and the Jupiter-type planet that the Hubble Space Telescope observed. A ring of debris appears to surround Fomalhaut as well. The planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the 200-million-year-old star every 872 years. Credit: ESA, NASA, and L. Calcada (ESO for STScI)

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the first visible-light snapshot of a planet circling another star.Estimated to be no more than three times Jupiter's mass, the planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Australis, or the "Southern Fish."

Fomalhaut has been a candidate for planet hunting ever since an excess of dust was discovered around the star in the early 1980s by NASA's Infrared Astronomy Satellite, IRAS.

In 2004, the coronagraph in the High Resolution Camera on Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys produced the first-ever resolved visible-light image of the region around Fomalhaut. It clearly showed a ring of protoplanetary debris approximately 21.5 billion miles across and having a sharp inner edge.

This large debris disk is similar to the Kuiper Belt, which encircles the solar system and contains a range of icy bodies from dust grains to objects the size of dwarf planets, such as Pluto.

Hubble astronomer Paul Kalas, of the University of California at Berkeley, and team members proposed in 2005 that the ring was being gravitationally modified by a planet lying between the star and the ring's inner edge.

Circumstantial evidence came from Hubble's confirmation that the ring is offset from the center of the star. The sharp inner edge of the ring is also consistent with the presence of a planet that gravitationally "shepherds" ring particles. Independent researchers have subsequently reached similar conclusions.

Now, Hubble has actually photographed a point source of light lying 1.8 billion miles inside the ring's inner edge. The results are being reported in the November 14 issue of Science magazine."Our Hubble observations were incredibly demanding. Fomalhaut b is 1 billion times fainter than the star. We began this program in 2001, and our persistence finally paid off," Kalas says."

Fomalhaut is the gift that keeps on giving. Following the unexpected discovery of its dust ring, we have now found an exoplanet at a location suggested by analysis of the dust ring's shape. The lesson for exoplanet hunters is 'follow the dust,'" said team member Mark Clampin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Observations taken 21 months apart by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys' coronagraph show that the object is moving along a path around the star, and is therefore gravitationally bound to it. The planet is 10.7 billion miles from the star, or about 10 times the distance of the planet Saturn from our sun.

The planet is brighter than expected for an object of three Jupiter masses. One possibility is that it has a Saturn-like ring of ice and dust reflecting starlight. The ring might eventually coalesce to form moons. The ring's estimated size is comparable to the region around Jupiter and its four largest orbiting satellites.

Kalas and his team first used Hubble to photograph Fomalhaut in 2004, and made the unexpected discovery of its debris disk, which scatters Fomalhaut's starlight. At the time they noted a few bright sources in the image as planet candidates. A follow-up image in 2006 showed that one of the objects is moving through space with Fomalhaut but changed position relative to the ring since the 2004 exposure. The amount of displacement between the two exposures corresponds to an 872-year-long orbit as calculated from Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

Future observations will attempt to see the planet in infrared light and will look for evidence of water vapor clouds in the atmosphere. This would yield clues to the evolution of a comparatively newborn 100-million-year-old planet. Astrometric measurements of the planet's orbit will provide enough precision to yield an accurate mass.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2013 will be able to make coronagraphic observations of Fomalhaut in the near- and mid-infrared. Webb will be able to hunt for other planets in the system and probe the region interior to the dust ring for structures such as an inner asteroid belt.

J.D. Harrington NASA Headquarters

Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute

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I'll Be Back, Schwarzenegger, NASA

Schwarzenegger Visits Ames Research Center

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and NASA Ames Research Center Director S. Pete Worden examine hyperwall-2, a state-of-the-art visualization system developed at Ames. Hyperwall-2 is one of the largest displays in the world and is used by scientists for data interpretation.

Schwarzenegger visited Ames July 14, 2008, for a behind-the-scenes tour and briefings about NASA's support to firefighters battling California wildfires. Ames scientists are partnering with colleagues at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., to send NASA¹s remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft on reconnaissance flights using sophisticated visual and thermal sensors to provide up-to-the-minute information to firefighters in the field.

Image Credit: NASA/Eric James

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NASA Spacecraft Shows Diverse, Wet Environments on Ancient Mars

Mars - Latest News & Images

WASHINGTON -- Two studies based on data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed that the Red Planet once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life.

One study, published in the July 17 issue of Nature, shows that vast regions of the ancient highlands of Mars, which cover about half the planet, contain clay minerals, which can form only in the presence of water. Volcanic lavas buried the clay-rich regions during subsequent, drier periods of the planet's history, but impact craters later exposed them at thousands of locations across Mars. The data for the study derives from images taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, or CRISM, and other instruments on the orbiter.

A color-enhanced image of the delta in Jezero Crater, which once held a lake. Researchers report that ancient rivers ferried clay-like minerals (shown in green) into the lake, forming the delta. Clays tend to trap and preserve organic matter, making the delta a good place to look for signs of ancient life. Image credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MSSS/Brown University

"The big surprise from these new results is how pervasive and long-lasting Mars' water was, and how diverse the wet environments were," said Scott Murchie, CRISM principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

The clay-like minerals, called phyllosilicates, preserve a record of the interaction of water with rocks dating back to what is called the Noachian period of Mars' history, approximately 4.6 billion to 3.8 billion years ago. This period corresponds to the earliest years of the solar system, when Earth, the moon and Mars sustained a cosmic bombardment by comets and asteroids. Rocks of this age have largely been destroyed on Earth by plate tectonics. They are preserved on the moon, but were never exposed to liquid water. The phyllosilicate-containing rocks on Mars preserve a unique record of liquid water environments possibly suitable for life in the early solar system.

"The minerals present in Mars' ancient crust show a variety of wet environments," said John Mustard, a member of the CRISM team from Brown University, and lead author of the Nature study. "In most locations the rocks are lightly altered by liquid water, but in a few locations they have been so altered that a great deal of water must have flushed though the rocks and soil. This is really exciting because we're finding dozens of sites where future missions can land to understand if Mars was ever habitable and if so, to look for signs of past life."

Another study, published in the June 2 issue of Nature Geosciences, finds that the wet conditions on Mars persisted for a long time. Thousands to millions of years after the clays formed, a system of river channels eroded them out of the highlands and concentrated them in a delta where the river emptied into a crater lake slightly larger than California's Lake Tahoe, approximately 25 miles in diameter.

This three-dimensional image of a trough shows a type of minerals called phyllosilicates (in magenta and blue hues) concentrated on the slopes of mesas and along canyon walls. The abundance of phyllosilicates shows that water played a sizable role in changing the minerals of a variety of terrains in the planet's early history.Image credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/University of Arizona/Brown University

"The distribution of clays inside the ancient lakebed shows that standing water must have persisted for thousands of years," says Bethany Ehlmann, another member of the CRISM team from Brown. Ehlmann is lead author of the study of an ancient lake within a northern-Mars impact basin called Jezero Crater. "Clays are wonderful at trapping and preserving organic matter, so if life ever existed in this region, there's a chance of its chemistry being preserved in the delta.

" CRISM's high spatial and spectral resolutions are better than any previous spectrometer sent to Mars and reveal variations in the types and composition of the phyllosilicate minerals. By combining data from CRISM and the orbiter's Context Imager and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, the team identified three principal classes of water-related minerals dating to the early Noachian period. The classes are aluminum-phyllosilicates, hydrated silica or opal, and the more common and widespread iron/magnesium-phyllosilicates. The variations in the minerals suggest that different processes, or different types of watery environments, created them.

"Our whole team is turning our findings into a list of sites where future missions could land to look for organic chemistry and perhaps determine whether life ever existed on Mars," said Murchie.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Applied Physics Laboratory operates the CRISM instrument in coordination with an international team of researchers from universities, government and the private sector.

For more information on the new studies, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro

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25 Years of Connecting Space to Earth

TDRS: 25 Years of Connecting Space To Earth

Twenty-five years ago, NASA inaugurated a new era in spacecraft communications with the launch of the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS. This space-based system ultimately replaced an extensive network of ground tracking stations deployed for the Apollo missions and significantly increased the time available to mission operators to contact their flight vehicles.

Perched 22,300 miles above the equator, the satellite rotated Earth at the same speed and direction that the Earth turns. Relative to a point on Earth, TDRS appeared to remain stationary. From that geosynchronous orbit, it beamed communications from Earth to other orbiting spacecraft and back, establishing itself as a reliable resource for NASA's space shuttle and other customers.


TDRS-1 provided a link for the first wireless phone call between the North Pole and the South Pole, and the first live webcast from the North Pole. It also was the first satellite to connect to the Internet.

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System transmits voice, television, and data between spacecraft and control centers on Earth. Credit: NASA.

Soon, more TDRS satellites joined the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, forming a constellation of nine NASA satellites that today provides nearly continuous tracking and high-bandwidth communications with scores of Earth orbiting spacecraft, launch vehicles, long duration balloons, and a research station in Antarctica.

"When many people look at the TV and see beautiful pictures coming from the shuttle or space station, they take communications for granted," said Badri Younes, NASA deputy associate administrator for Space Communications and Navigation. "They don’t know the capabilities that NASA leverages in getting this data down to the ground."

Over the last 25 years, the TDRSS network has brought stunning images from the Hubble Space Telescope to Earth. It has delivered pictures, television, voice and data from more than 100 space shuttle missions and the International Space Station. The TDRSS network has delivered large volumes of Earth observation data in support of Mission to Planet Earth and investigations into global climate change.

Other TDRSS users have included the Automated Transfer Vehicle, Solar Mesosphere Explorer, Solar Maximum Mission, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Terra, Landsat, SWIFT, Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, Cosmic Background Explorer, Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer, Aqua, and Aura.




In April 1983, the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, was launched from space shuttle Challenger's payload bay on mission STS-6. Credit: NASA.

The TDRS system has evolved over the last 25 years to meet expanding user requirements and provide new services. Meanwhile, the very first TDRS satellite that was deployed by space shuttle Challenger in April 1983 is still on duty today, returning data from the National Science Foundation activities at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica.


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Hometown Hero

NASA Hometown Heroes 2008: Astronaut Clay Anderson Receives the Royal Treatment

With the roar of thousands of baseball fans, NASA astronaut Clay Anderson ran onto the field at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, and headed to the pitcher’s mound to throw out the first pitch of the game.

NASA astronaut Clay Anderson prepares to throw out the first pitch at the Kansas City Royals vs. Detroit Tigers game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Photo credit: NASA

Anderson’s appearance in Kansas City, Mo., on May 15 was the kickoff of NASA’s Hometown Heroes 2008 Campaign. Throughout the summer, former International Space Station astronauts will journey back to their home states or regions to throw out the first pitch at Major League Baseball (MLB) games across the United States.

The campaign will showcase and celebrate the station’s 10th anniversary in orbit. In November of 1998, the first piece of station hardware was launched into low-Earth orbit, and now, after 25 successful missions, the orbiting outpost is nearly complete.

Prior to throwing out the first pitch for the Royals afternoon game, Anderson spent his morning sharing the story of his journey to become an astronaut and what his five-month stay aboard the station was like, both with the local media and thousands of students from the Kansas City area.

“I thought it was really cool to meet an astronaut,” said Megan Hansen, a fifth-grade student at Manor Hill Elementary School in Liberty, Mo. “I was really excited to get to meet someone who’s been in space. It was cool to hear everything he had to say about what he saw in space, how he had to sleep and other stuff. I had lots of fun.”

Hansen was the cameraperson for the Manor Hill Elementary video crew that interviewed Anderson at Kauffman Stadium early that morning before heading to class.

Anderson’s next early morning stop was a live interview on the field during WDAF-TV 4’s morning newscast.

NASA astronaut Clay Anderson being interviewed on KMBC-TV 9 in Kansas City, Mo. Photo credit: NASA

He then headed across town to KMBC-TV 9 to appear on that station’s morning newscast. “You know, a lot of us are a little bit star struck, because I don’t believe we’ve met an astronaut before,” said KMBC news anchor Dion Lim.

Anderson then headed back to Kaufmann Stadium and joined NASA Education Specialist Dr. Ollie Bogden at home plate, along with the WDAF-TV 4 weather team for School Day at the K.

Showcased as the largest weather class in the world, School Day at the K is an interactive, educational program involving students, teachers and parents watching from the stands and the WDAF weather team on the field. A variety of weather-related experiments were conducted at home plate to explain the science behind weather as more than 20,000 attendees watched.

The entire program was broadcast live on WDAF to an estimated 1.6 million viewers in the Kansas City area. And like the International Space Station, School Day at the K is also celebrating its 10th anniversary.

“We were thrilled to have astronaut Clay Anderson not only visit Kauffman Stadium but also play a big part in our 10th annual School Day at The K event,” said Megan Stock, the Royals’ coordinator of publicity. “His experiences as a NASA astronaut added a new aspect to FOX 4’s already successful weather program.”

NASA astronaut Clay Anderson signing autographs for students. 22,000 students, teachers and parents attended WDAF’s School “Day at the K” weather program at Kauffman Stadium prior to the game. Photo credit: NASA

“The icing on the cake for the 10th year anniversary was having astronaut Clay Anderson join us to help inspire the students to continue their studies in science and math,” Dr. Bogden said. “Clay did a great job of communicating to the students to do their best in everything they do, and that the possibilities of where they’ll go in life are endless.”

After the weather program and a quick interview with the Fox Sports Network, Anderson continued to inspire and engage both students and parents during an autograph session conducted outside the stadium. His backdrop was a 1:15 scale model of space shuttle Atlantis.

Anderson wrapped up this Hometown Heroes kickoff by throwing out the first pitch of the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers, and then presented Royals’ General Manager Dayton Moore with a photo of Kansas City taken from the station.

Victor Scott c/o Johnson Space Center, Houston

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Nick

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Crews Get a Breather For The Fourth

July 3, 2008 At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparation of space shuttle Atlantis for the upcoming launch of the STS-125 Hubble Telescope servicing mission is going smoothly and on schedule. Although Kennedy's processing crews will be off this weekend to celebrate the Independence Day holiday, work has progressed on both Atlantis and Endeavour.

Technicians have completed installation of space shuttle main engine dome heat shields as well as inspections to the reinforced carbon-carbon panels. In bay 2 of Kennedy's Orbiter Processing Facility, shuttle Endeavour is being prepared for flight. Endeavour will stand ready on Launch Pad 39B to be used for a rescue mission in the unlikely event Atlantis has an emergency in space. The orbiter will then move to pad 39A for the STS-126 mission after Atlantis has returned.

This is the 17th time in NASA history that two spacecraft are being readied for launch at the same time. Meanwhile at Launch Pad 39A, workers installed anchors and plates to both the east and west walls which support the bricks above the lintel, prior to brick removal and replacement.

During Discovery's launch on May 31, damage occurred on a 100’ X 20’ section of the east wall of the north flame trench. Broken sections of the flame trench wall were scattered from the trench to the pad perimeter fence. The pad is expected to be repaired by Atlantis' STS-125 targeted launch date on Oct. 8. At NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, STS-125 astronauts wrapped up a week of training and will have a holiday weekend off with family and friends.

Nick

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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

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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.
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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.

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 Palmdale

April 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:

1. Installation of the drag chute
2. New plumbing lines and electrical connections configuring the orbiter for extended duration missions
3. New insulation for the main landing gear doors
4. Improved nosewheel steering
5. Preparations for the Mir Orbiter Docking System unit later installed at Kennedy
6. Installation of the International Space Station airlock and Orbiter Docking System
7. Installation of the Multifunction Electronic Display System, or "glass cockpit"

Nick

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NASA-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.

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

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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

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Phoenix Set for Challenging Mars Landing on May 25

NASA's newest Mars lander arrives at the red planet on May 25th 2008 to uncover clues to the geologic history and biological potential of the Martian arctic.

After a journey of 10-months and more than 400 million miles, Phoenix arrives at the Red Planet just before 8 p.m. EDT this Sunday, beginning its study of water and possible conditions for life in the Martian arctic

NASA News Releases

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA news briefings, live commentary and updates before and after the scheduled Sunday, May 25 arrival of the agency's Phoenix Mars Lander will be available on NASA Television and on the Web. Entry, descent and landing begins at 4:46 p.m. PDT on May 25, when the flight team listens for radio signals indicating that Phoenix has entered the top of the Martian atmosphere.

The spacecraft must perform a series of challenging transformations and activities during the seven minutes after it enters the atmosphere to slow it from 12,000 mph to 5 mph and a soft touchdown. The Phoenix team will be watching for radio signals confirming the landing at 4:53 p.m. More than half of previous international attempts to land on Mars have been unsuccessful. For a detailed schedule and landing timeline, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

The deadline for U.S. journalists to request media credentials to cover the Phoenix mission from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is Tuesday, May 20. Foreign journalists requesting credentials must apply by Friday, May 16. Requests for media credentials must be made online at: https://eis.jpl.nasa.gov/media/index.html

Media wishing to cover the mission from the University of Arizona in Tucson, must apply online at: http://uanews.org/marsmedia

Briefings on mission goals, challenges, status and final trajectory adjustments will originate from JPL on Thursday, May 22, at 11:30 a.m. and on Saturday and Sunday, May 25-26, at noon. On landing day, May 25, live landing commentary will air on NASA TV.

A telecast of mission control -- without roll-in videos and interviews -- will run on NASA TV's Media Channel beginning at 3 p.m. Another telecast with commentary, interviews and videos will begin at 3:30 p.m. on NASA TV's Public Channel.

For more information on NASA TV and this coverage schedule, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html Both telecasts will continue through landing and will resume at 6:30 p.m. during the period after landing when engineers anticipate the receipt of data and possible images confirming that Phoenix has opened its solar panels successfully. A news briefing at JPL will be held Sunday, May 25 at 9 p.m., following landing and the first possible downlink of images. Briefing updates at JPL also are scheduled on Monday, May 26 at 11 a.m. and on Tuesday, May 27 at 11 a.m. Daily news briefings will continue at 11 a.m. for several days following a successful landing. Mission control and the site for news briefings will then shift to the University of Arizona in Tucson after a determination that the spacecraft is in a safe condition for conducting science operations. The earliest possibility for moving the host site for mission news briefings to the University of Arizona's Space Operations Center is Wednesday, May 28. Mission briefings from Pasadena and Tucson will be carried on NASA TV unless preempted by other NASA events.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedules, and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Bye for now,

Nick

http://www.spaceboosters.co.uk/