Shuttle/Shuttle Concept Restart: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: June 10, 2013 6:04:32 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - June 10, 2013 and JSC Today

Monday, June 10, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            POWER of One Winners Announced
2.            Co-op Housing Committee Seeks New Rental Property Submissions
3.            JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum -- June 18
4.            SWAPRA Monthly Meeting on June 11
5.            Johnson Space Center Astronomy Society (JSCAS) Meeting
6.            Latest edition of AIAA-Houston Section Horizons Now Available
7.            Job Opportunities
8.            Space Physiology Human Systems Academy Lecture
9.            JSC Imagery Online Training on June 13
10.          Financial Wellness: The Basic Foundation -- Starts This Week
11.          TTI RLLS Portal Education Series WebEx Training Weekly Beginning June 10th
12.          Pressure Systems Familiarization
13.          Confined Space Entry 8:30 a.m.; and Lockout/Tagout 1 p.m. -- June 17 -- Building 20, Room 205/206
14.          Train-The-Trainer: Crane Operations and Riggings Safety-Lift Certifying Officials
15.          Train-The-Trainer: Aerial Platform-Certifying Officials
16.          Train-The-Trainer: Forklift-Certifying Officials - JSC-SLC-FLS
________________________________________     NASA FACT
" Astronomers at NASA and Pennsylvania State University have used NASA's Swift satellite to create the most detailed ultraviolet light surveys ever of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the two closest major galaxies."
________________________________________
1.            POWER of One Winners Announced
Congratulations to JSC's newest POWER of One winners:
GOLD: Cuong Q. Nguyen - XA121
GOLD: Elaine M. Snyder - LC2
SILVER: Steven D. Foote - IC
SILVER: Carrie L. Mulholland - BJ3
BRONZE: Susan L. Irlbeck - LD4
BRONZE: Jennifer S. Mason - OX
BRONZE: Krystin L. Mitchell - LF31
BRONZE: Maria R. Telles - DA8
The POWER of One award was established to award and recognize JSC employees for their exemplary performance and direct contributions to either their organization, JSC or NASA at the agency level. Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work! Visit the POWER of One Award website if you would like to nominate someone.
Jessica Ocampo 281-792-7804 http://powerofone.jsc.nasa.gov

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2.            Co-op Housing Committee Seeks New Rental Property Submissions
Do you have a rental property or an extra room in your house that you would be willing to rent to a co-op/intern for a semester or two? Need a roommate? Need a house sitter for a few months? Co-ops and interns at JSC rely on the housing committee to provide quality, affordable housing during their work tours at JSC. If you would like to submit your property to the housing committee, please email us with the location and your contact information. Civil servants, contractors, as well as friends of employees are also eligible, so feel free to pass along the email if you know of someone with housing availability. Please note that property eligibility will be determined by the housing committee.
Megan McCarthy x28193 http://www.jsccoophousing.com/

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3.            JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum -- June 18
Our next JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum will be held on Tuesday, June 18, in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom from 9 to 11 a.m. One guest speaker is Ron Horton, Afterburner's EVP for Safety and Leadership Development. Horton's topic, "Leading Flawless Execution in a High-Risk World," is a very dynamic presentation that will cover the six steps of mission planning using the Flawless Execution Model. Our second speaker, Tommy Northcutt, P.E., from Aerospace Testing Alliance located at the Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee, will be discussing Arc Flash Hazards and the challenges encountered at his location. The third guest speaker will be Frank Brody, chief, NWS Spaceflight Meteorology Group at JSC, who will be speaking on the 2013 hurricane season forecast.
This will be a very dynamic and informative meeting you will not want to miss.
For questions, please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012 or via email.
Event Date: Tuesday, June 18, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM
Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

Add to Calendar

Pat Farrell 281-335-2012

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4.            SWAPRA Monthly Meeting on June 11
On Tuesday, June 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., SWAPRA will be hosting Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney, USAF (Ret.). General McInerney is a senior Fox News military analyst and will discuss the keys to winning the War on Terror and how the business community can engage in securing America's future. The General has more than 4,500 flying hours and completed four tours in Vietnam. In February 2000, General McInerney received a "Laurel Award" from Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine for his efforts on behalf of military reform. The SWAPRA event will be held at the Bay Oaks Country Club (BOCC) in Clear Lake. The BOCC luncheon cost for non-members is $35 at the door. Contact David L. Brown at 281-483-7426 for more information, or RSVP directly to Garrett Maddox at 281-332-3053 or via email.
Event Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Bay Oaks Country Club

Add to Calendar

David L. Brown x37426

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5.            Johnson Space Center Astronomy Society (JSCAS) Meeting
Our June meeting will feature Dr. Stephen Bradshaw from Rice University, who will give us insight on explosive solar phenomena and how space weather affects Earth. Solar-induced magnetic storms are a real threat to modern society, and you're welcomed to come learn why.
We'll discuss our upcoming star parties, where we invite the public to come and look through telescopes. Other meeting topics include the member's minute on a comet this winter, "What's Up in the Sky this Month?" with suggestions for beginner observing, the always intriguing "Astro Oddities" and the novice question-and-answer session. Our meetings are held on the second Friday of each month.
Membership to the JSCAS is open to anyone who wants to learn about astronomy. There are no dues, no bylaws -- you just show up to our meeting. Don't forget, there are loaner telescopes and an educational DVD library as benefits of membership!
Event Date: Friday, June 14, 2013   Event Start Time:7:30 PM   Event End Time:9:30 PM
Event Location: USRA Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Jim Wessel x41128 http://www.jscas.net/

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6.            Latest edition of AIAA-Houston Section Horizons Now Available
The March/April 2013 issue of Horizons is now online. Horizons is the newsletter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston Section. The cover story is a report from the Woodlands about the 44th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by Dr. Larry Friesen, Wes Kelly and Shen Ge. This issue contains three articles by Daniel R. Adamo, astrodynamics consultant. First: Near-Earth Objects in Earth-Like Orbits. Second: The Horseshoe" Orbit of Near-Earth Object 2013 BS45. Third: Chelybinsk Bolide Trajectory Reconstruction. The JSC Astronomical Society starts a newsletter partnership in this issue. This issue concludes with part five of eight from Man Will Conquer Space Soon! This is the 1952-1954 Collier's series of magazine articles from a team led by Wernher von Braun. Much more is included in this issue, a free PDF download.
Eryn Beisner x40212

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7.            Job Opportunities
Where do I find job opportunities?
Both internal Competitive Placement Plan (CPP) and external JSC job announcements are posted on the Human Resources (HR) portal and USAJOBS website. Through the HR portal, civil servants can view summaries of all the agency jobs that are currently open: https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/employees_home/239/job_opportu...
To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select "JSC HR." The "Jobs" link will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your HR representative.
Lisa Pesak x30476

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8.            Space Physiology Human Systems Academy Lecture
Please join us on June 19 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. for a lecture on space physiology and considerations for operations and research.
Space is limited, so please register in SATERN at:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Cynthia Rando x41815 https://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/hsa/default.aspx

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9.            JSC Imagery Online Training on June 13
Want to find that "perfect" picture or video? Learn how during a webinar on Thursday, June 13, from 2 to 3:15 p.m. CDT. Mary Wilkerson, Still Imagery lead, will show users how to find NASA and mission images in Imagery Online (IO) and the Digital Imagery Management System (DIMS). Leslie Richards, Video Imagery lead, will show employees the video functionality in IO. This training is open to any JSC/White Sands Test Facility employee.
To register for the WebEx, go to the link below: https://library.jsc.nasa.gov/aboutus/Lists/Imagery%20Registration%20Form/NewF...
This training is provided by the Information Resources Directorate.
Event Date: Thursday, June 13, 2013   Event Start Time:2:00 PM   Event End Time:3:15 PM
Event Location: WebEx

Add to Calendar

Scientific and Technical Information Center x34245 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov

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10.          Financial Wellness: The Basic Foundation -- Starts This Week
Financial wellness offerings start this week with our introductory series. If you're just beginning, this is a great place to start.
FW101: Financial Wellness Foundation
What is financial wellness? Topics include readiness, behavioral results and financial goal setting.
FW102: Budgets, Debt, Insurance and Long-Term Care
Budgeting, emergency cash, debt reduction and insurance are introduced. Long-term care options are defined.
FW103: Investing and Retirement Planning
Investing basics, retirement goals, simplistic estimates of how much you need and have, life phases and income are introduced.
FW104: Taxes and Estate Planning
Introduction to paying taxes now or later including what monies are tax free, fully taxable and taxed favorably. The basics of estates are defined.
Webinar only - FW105: Debt Free for Life Webinar
Includes debt in the United States today, behavioral approaches, debt-elimination case study and introduction to the wealth tree concept.
Sign up at this link.
For questions, email.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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11.          TTI RLLS Portal Education Series WebEx Training Weekly Beginning June 10th
From June 10th thru August 30th, TTI will implement the TTI RLLS Portal Education Series highlighting different RLLS modules weekly.

The June 10th weekly Education Series:

• June 12th at 7:30 AM and 2 PM CST - Flight Arrival Departure
• June 13th at 7:30 AM and 2 PM CST - Telecon Support

The 30 minute training sessions are computer based WebEx sessions, offering individuals the convenience to join from their own workstation. The RLLS Portal Education Series will cover the following:

System login
Locating support modules
Locating downloadable instructions
Creating support requests
Submittal requirements
Submitting on behalf of another
Adding attachments
Selecting special requirements
Submitting request
Status of request

Ending each training session the instructor will answer any questions and remind all users that TTI will no longer accept request for U.S. performed services unless they are submitted through the RLLS Portal.

Email James.E.Welty@nasa.gov or call 281-335-8565 to sign-up.

James Welty 281-335-8565 https://www.tti-portal.com

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12.          Pressure Systems Familiarization
JSC-SLC-PSF (Two Hours)
This course gives the student an overview of NASA policy, center policy and center requirements for Pressure System Certification.
The five JSC categories of certified systems are presented. The role of the pressure and pressure systems are defined as well.
o             ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Codes (B&PV)
o             ASME B31 Pressure Piping Codes
o             ASME Performance Test Codes (PTC)
o             National Board Inspection Code (ANSI/NB-23)
o             Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 49
Date/Time: June 13 from 8 to 11 a.m.
Where: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Room 205/206
Registration via SATERN required:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Aundrail Hill x36369

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13.          Confined Space Entry 8:30 a.m.; and Lockout/Tagout 1 p.m. -- June 17 -- Building 20, Room 205/206
Confined Space Entry:
The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for safe entry to and operations in confined spaces. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard 29 CFR 1910.146, "Confined Space," is the basis for this course. The course covers the hazards of working in or around a confined space and the precautions one should take to control these hazards. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Use this direct link for registration.
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Lockout/Tagout:
The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for the control of hazardous energy through lockout and tagout of energy-isolating devices. OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.147, "The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)," is the basis for this course. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Use this direct link for registration.
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Shirley Robinson x41284

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14.          Train-The-Trainer: Crane Operations and Riggings Safety-Lift Certifying Officials
JSC-SLC-CORSR
In order to assist with the transition of responsibility for certifying lift operators to line organizations, the Safety Learning Center is offering training for lift-certifying officials (four-hour course).
Date/Time: June 19 from 8 a.m. to noon
Location: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Rooms 205/206
This class is a train-the-trainer class for those certifying operators for crane operation and rigging safety. JSC line organizations and contractors are now responsible for ensuring their lift equipment operators are certified in accordance with the NASA Standard for Lifting Devices and Equipment 8919.9. The operators will need to be certified by individuals who are qualified and approved as lift-certifying officials. Qualifications for both operators and lift-certifying officials are listed here.
Certifying officials need only to be approved for the lift types for which they certifying operators.
Registration via SATERN required:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Aundrail Hill x36369

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15.          Train-The-Trainer: Aerial Platform-Certifying Officials
In order to assist with the transition of responsibility for certifying lift operators to line organizations, the Safety Learning Center is offering training for aerial platform-certifying officials.
Date/Time: June 20 from 8 to 11 a.m.
Location: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Rooms 205/206
This class is a train-the-trainer class for those certifying operators for aerial lifts. JSC line organizations and contractors are now responsible for ensuring their lift equipment operators are certified in accordance with the NASA Standard for Lifting Devices and Equipment 8919.9. The operators will need to be certified by individuals who are qualified and approved as lift-certifying officials.
Qualifications for both operators and lift-certifying officials are listed here.
Certifying officials need only to be approved for the lift types for which they certifying operators.
Registration via SATERN required:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Aundrail Hill x36369

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16.          Train-The-Trainer: Forklift-Certifying Officials - JSC-SLC-FLS
In order to assist with the transition of responsibility for certifying lift operators to line organizations, the Safety Learning Center is offering training for forklift-certifying officials (three-hour course).
Date/Time: June 20 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Location: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Rooms 205/206
Registration via SATERN required:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
This class is a train-the-trainer class for those certifying operators for forklifts. JSC line organizations and contractors are now responsible for ensuring their lift equipment operators are certified in accordance with the NASA Standard for Lifting Devices and Equipment 8919.9. The operators will need to be certified by individuals who are qualified and approved as lift-certifying officials. Qualifications for both operators and lift-certifying officials are listed here.
Certifying officials need only to be approved for the lift types for which they certifying operators.
Aundrail Hill x36369

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JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.

NASA TV: 10:35 am Central (11:35 EDT) – E36 with the Douglas, Mass. Public School District

Human Spaceflight News
Monday, June 10, 2013

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Commercial Crew Gets Reprieve in NASA Operating Plan

Dan Leone - Space News

NASA wants to reshuffle its 2013 budget to fund a post-shuttle crew transportation program at an all-time high and shore up the James Webb Space Telescope and Earth Science Division with funds siphoned out of the Planetary Science Division. The changes are part of an operating plan delivered to NASA's congressional overseers the week of May 27, according to a government source who has seen the document. The latest operating plan details changes NASA wants to make to its 2013 budget, part of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. 933) that was signed March 26 and funds federal agencies through Sept. 30.

In wind tunnels and flight tests, NASA's next manned spacecraft are taking shape

Jason Paur - Wired.com

Boeing, SpaceX and the Sierra Nevada Corporation have achieved major milestones in their space programs, testing the vehicles they hope will carry astronauts into orbit and reestablish NASA's manned space program. NASA is providing a total of more than $1 billion in funding to the three companies to develop a new spacecraft. The agency has said it most likely will select a single design and hopes to begin flying astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017. The three companies are hip-deep in NASA's commercial crew integrated capability program, competing for lucrative government contracts to shuttle astronauts to and from the International Space Station and other destinations in low Earth orbit.

Orion Spacecraft Cool Under Pressure

Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.com

The Orion spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has undergone extensive testing to prepare it for its first flight, currently scheduled to take place in September of next year. Tests to address new issues, as well as resolve old ones, have been taking place over the course of the past three weeks. Last November, Orion's rear bulkhead cracked when the capsule was pressurized. NASA has gone back and reinforced these sections and re-tested Orion, which passed muster on Wednesday, June 5. Brackets were designed to strengthen the sections that failed during the previous pressure tests. The loads and stresses that contributed to the failures are now spread out.

NASA's Biggest Rocket Yet Aims for 2017 Test Flight

Rod Pyle - Space.com

NASA's largest rocket yet, a vehicle under development called the Space Launch System (SLS), is on track for its first test flight in 2017, according to experts who spoke at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach last month. The rocket is designed to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. Meanwhile, NASA plans to leave travel to low-Earth orbit to commercial space companies, which are developing private space taxis to take over the job vacated by the retired space shuttle. "We started working on Space Launch System concepts 10 years ago," said former astronaut David Leestma, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, who now heads the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We want to take NASA well beyond the space station. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and it will be safe, affordable and sustainable."

ISS: A Future Beyond 2020?

Jim Hillhouse - AmericaSpace.com

Use of ISS is, per Section 501 (a) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010, to be operated until 2020. Although since the 2010 NASA Act was written NASA has talked about extending the use of ISS beyond 2020 to as late as 2030, the decision to operate ISS beyond 2020 has not yet been made. One factor that will have to be considered in any decision to operate ISS beyond 2020 is the station's age. Completed in 2011, by 2020 elements of ISS are obviously aging; Zarya was lofted in 1996 with an estimated life-span of 15 years. By 2020, Zarya, lofted in 1996 with an estimated lifespan of at least 15-years, the Unity Node, and the PMA–1 will have been in orbit over 24 years; those elements launched in 2000 such as Zvezda, the P6 truss, and Quest will have been in orbit around 20 years. By 2030, those elements in particular, and ISS in general, will certainly provide an unparalleled opportunity to witness how structures age in low-Earth orbit. But concomitant with that are the costs associated with the needed maintenance to counter the wear-and-tear of low-Earth orbit.

Station Astronauts Begin Studying Troubling Vision Issue

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station this week kicked off a four-year study of vision problems that surfaced among crew members several years ago and now rank among the top health concerns facing fliers selected for future deep-space missions. Nineteen ISS astronauts have developed symptoms of impaired vision since the ailment was first recognized in 2005, according to Dr. Christian Otto, a Universities Space Research Association remote medicine specialist who serves as the principal investigator for the NASA-sponsored Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health. The study, ultimately involving a dozen closely followed international astronauts, will search for a link between the blurred vision and the long observed shift of fluid from the lower torso to the chests and heads of fliers as they adjust to weightlessness. The fluid shift now appears to affect the eyes as well as the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.

Astronauts on ISS Conduct Study to Find Cure for Vision Problems

Raoul Girard - French Tribune

Observing that vision problems have become a serious issue over time, making a place for themselves in the top health problems, astronauts on the International Space Station have started a four-year study this week. It has been found that the troubling vision problem had come out to be known by crew members in 2005. Fliers chosen for forthcoming deep-space missions often face the problem amongst other illnesses. Thus, symptoms of impaired vision have been developed by a total of nineteen ISS astronauts.

Noble scientists prep research for second space mission

High Plains Journal (Kansas)

Noble Foundation Principal Investigator Elison Blancaflor, Ph.D., and his team—Jin Nakashima, Ph.D., Yuhong Tang, Ph.D., and Alan Sparks—are boldly headed back to outer space. Well, at least, one of their experiments is headed back to the cosmos. The Noble Foundation scientists are studying vital plant functions in near-zero gravity. The research focuses on how gravity affects cell development and root growth. On Earth, gravity not only helps to anchor plants but also orients plant growth and development for nutrient and water capture by roots, seedling emergence, and light absorption for photosynthesis in shoots—all of which have a considerable impact on agriculturally significant crops. The Noble team hopes to uncover genes associated with these traits so that agricultural crops on Earth can be improved.

Houston's NanoRacks seeking partners to bring higher quality protein structures to biomedical research in space

BioNewsTexas

Houston based NanoRacks, LLC has announced positive test results in an experiment on the International Space Station (ISS) to grow protein crystals in space using research hardware commonly used by biotechnology companies. The experiment was recently conducted by Canadian astronaut and recent ISS commander Chris Hadfield and protein crystals produced were returned from space with crystals intact for scientific examination. In a release, NanoRacks, a company formed in 2009 to provide hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station, notes that this proof of concept study demonstrates that a much larger number of X-ray crystallization experiments are now accessible to scientists in space, providing better structural models of disease-causing proteins.

NASA officials return CTB to ORHS campus

Kimberly Sutton - Montgomery County Courier (Texas)

It was mission accomplished for NASA officials on Friday as they visited Oak Ridge High School to return a student-made CTB that was on the International Space Station. The CTB or Cargo Transfer Bag was made by Oak Ridge High School fashion design students, taught by Darlene Parsons, with sewing machine units donated to the school by HUNCH (High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware). This is the fourth year that Parsons' students have manufactured the bags. HUNCH partners with three high schools in the Conroe Independent School District: Oak Ridge, College Park and Conroe. At least 150 ORHS students are trained to sew and conduct stitching and cutting inspections on the fire retardant bags used for the astronauts to take gear to space.

China marks decade of human spaceflight

Christopher Bodeen - Associated Press

China's astronauts have braved the tension of docking with a space station and performed delicate tasks outside their orbiting capsule, but now face a more down-to-earth job that is perhaps equally challenging: Talking to young people about science. Three Chinese astronauts will take flight this week, on Tuesday if weather permits, aboard a Shenzhou spacecraft to the dock with China's Tiangong 1 space lab. On the heels of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's wildly popular YouTube videos from the International Space Station, the Chinese crew plans to deliver a series of talks to students from aboard the Tiangong. The lectures come as China's human space program enters its second decade, after going from a simple manned flight to space lab link-ups in a series of methodically timed steps in just 10 years. Meanwhile, its American rival appears adrift in search of new missions, lacking in political backing and uninterested in collaborating with China.

'One giant leap' toward a NASA Armstrong center?

Alicia Chang - Associated Press

Neil Armstrong's name is attached to a lunar crater, an asteroid, more than a dozen schools and a museum, but not a single NASA facility is christened in honor of the man whose "giant leap" made him the first to walk on the moon. All that could soon change on the fringes of the Mojave Desert, where leaders at the space agency's top flight research center are mulling the consequences of a proposed name change at the place where Armstrong was a test pilot. The push by some in Congress to strike the name of former NASA executive Hugh Dryden from the facility has brought with it some questions: Is it justified to substitute one accomplished figure for another? At a time of squeezed budgets, is it worth the cost? And, besides: How long before the next space hotshot upends the world's first moonwalker?

Atlantis showcase on track for June 29 opening day

Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com

It's T-minus 3 weeks and counting until the grand opening of the space shuttle Atlantis attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, just miles from where the orbiter was processed and launched on 33 missions. Final touches are being made to the exhibits, interactive displays and simulators inside the 90,000-square-foot home purpose-built to house the retired shuttle, as well as topping off the full-size, high-fidelity mockup of an external tank and solid rocket booster stack in front of the $100 million facility. "We are on schedule to open June 29. Everything is a GO," said Tim Macy, KSCVC's director of project development.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit Enters Final Countdown to Launch

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

Space Shuttle Atlantis is "go" for launch. The retired NASA orbiter and the new $100 million exhibit that bears its name is on schedule to open to the public on June 29 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. "Everything is go," said Tim Macy, the director of project development and construction for Delaware North Parks & Resorts, which operates the complex for NASA. "We are looking forward to having a big turnout that Saturday."
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COMPLETE STORIES

Commercial Crew Gets Reprieve in NASA Operating Plan

Dan Leone - Space News

NASA wants to reshuffle its 2013 budget to fund a post-shuttle crew transportation program at an all-time high and shore up the James Webb Space Telescope and Earth Science Division with funds siphoned out of the Planetary Science Division.

The changes are part of an operating plan delivered to NASA's congressional overseers the week of May 27, according to a government source who has seen the document. The latest operating plan details changes NASA wants to make to its 2013 budget, part of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. 933) that was signed March 26 and funds federal agencies through Sept. 30.

The entire spending bill was subject to the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, and NASA's portion of the bill was subject to an additional, smaller cut devised by lawmakers to protect select federal programs from the sequester. According to NASA's operating plan, the space agency ended up with about a $16.9 billion top line for 2013, roughly $900 million below the level it had been held to since 2011 but slightly more than the agency had feared.

The Commercial Crew Program, in which NASA is paying competing companies to design and develop crew transportation systems the agency could use to transport astronauts to the international space station by 2017, would get exactly the level of funding prescribed by H.R. 933 before either sequestration or Congress' rescission is factored in: $525 million. That marks about a 30 percent increase compared with 2012 levels.

The money for Commercial Crew came out of the space operations account, using funds originally budgeted for a space shuttle closeout effort that has since winded down, according to the government source who saw the operating plan.

Meanwhile, NASA's Planetary Science Division, which is charged with exploring the solar system with robotic probes, would lose about $110 million of its 2013 appropriation under NASA's proposed operating plan, leaving the division with about $1.2 billion for 2013 — roughly what it got in 2012.

Of the money Planetary Science would lose, about $44 million would go to the James Webb Space Telescope and about $66 million would go to the Earth Science Division, the government source said.

NASA's authorization and appropriations committees have the opportunity to object to the changes the agency proposed and send the operating plan back to NASA for an overhaul. At least one "deeply disappointed" lawmaker said that he might.

"Once again, NASA has chosen to disregard the expressed will of Congress with regards to planetary science," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a written statement emailed to SpaceNews June 7. "I will be working with my House and Senate colleagues to push back on these cuts." Schiff is a member of the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee that drafts NASA spending bills, and whose district includes the heavily planetary science-focused Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Meanwhile, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and its carrier rocket the Space Launch System (SLS) would be funded at essentially the same levels as 2012. The SLS account, which includes not only vehicle development but the ground systems necessary to launch the massive rocket, would be receive roughly $1.8 billion, according to the government source. Orion would get about $1.1 billion.

However, Congress proposed giving SLS a boost in H.R. 933, which would have provided about $300 million more in 2013 for the rocket and its ground systems than the NASA operating plan proposes.

In wind tunnels and flight tests, NASA's next manned spacecraft are taking shape

Jason Paur - Wired.com

Boeing, SpaceX and the Sierra Nevada Corporation have achieved major milestones in their space programs, testing the vehicles they hope will carry astronauts into orbit and reestablish NASA's manned space program. NASA is providing a total of more than $1 billion in funding to the three companies to develop a new spacecraft. The agency has said it most likely will select a single design and hopes to begin flying astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017.

The three companies are hip-deep in NASA's commercial crew integrated capability program, competing for lucrative government contracts to shuttle astronauts to and from the International Space Station and other destinations in low Earth orbit.

Boeing recently tested its CST-100 spacecraft and the integrated Atlas V launch vehicle in NASA's transonic wind tunnel at Ames Research Center in California. The tests, which Boeing deemed a success, were the first with the spacecraft and launch vehicle integrated, and concluded more than two months' work at the tunnel. The scale model of the Atlas V and CST-100 were heavily instrumented to gather data on the aerodynamic forces experienced by the rocket and spacecraft during launch.

"The CST-100 and Atlas V, connected with the launch vehicle adapter, performed exactly as expected," Boeing vice president John Mulholland said in a statement. "[The tests] confirmed our expectations of how they will perform together in flight."

SpaceX and Sierra also continue making progress. SpaceX recently completed its pad abort test review with NASA, demonstrating where and how astronauts will escape should something go wrong during launch.

More impressively, SpaceX recently performed the first firing of its Falcon 9-R rocket prototype. The new design upgrades the firepower to nine Merlin 1D engines, with eight of them arranged around a central engine instead of a three-by-three square. Company founder Elon Musk says the new rocket, tested in Texas, generates around 1.5 million pounds of vacuum thrust and claims that number will be 60 percent higher with future improvements.

Sierra Nevada stands alone in shunning a capsule in favor of a lifting body design. It borrows from earlier NASA designs and can, like the space shuttle orbiters, return to a runway. The Dream Chaser, which recently arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, soon will begin flight testing, beginning with simple tows down the runway to make sure the landing gear and brakes are working properly. Sierra Nevada plans unmanned drop tests from a helicopter later this summer, providing data for the glide and approach phases of the flight.

The company also announced that initial testing began this week of the rocket motors that will be used on the Dream Chaser. The initial boost of the Dream Chaser will happen while it is perched atop an Atlas V, but once the vehicle separates from the first stage, a pair of hybrid rocket motors will boost the spacecraft into final orbit and rendezvous with the International Space Station. The solid rubber fuel rocket motors are similar to the one used on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.

Orion Spacecraft Cool Under Pressure

Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.com

The Orion spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has undergone extensive testing to prepare it for its first flight, currently scheduled to take place in September of next year. Tests to address new issues, as well as resolve old ones, have been taking place over the course of the past three weeks.

Last November, Orion's rear bulkhead cracked when the capsule was pressurized. NASA has gone back and reinforced these sections and re-tested Orion, which passed muster on Wednesday, June 5.

Brackets were designed to strengthen the sections that failed during the previous pressure tests. The loads and stresses that contributed to the failures are now spread out.

NASA took the better part of a month to amend the issue, which a NASA release deemed "superficial."

As with most machines destined to take to the skies, engineers made sure that the spacecraft was tested to see if it could withstand stresses much stronger than expected. As the technicians checked out Orion, they cranked up the pressure to 110 percent of what it is expected to encounter in space. Orion handled these loads successfully.

"The static loads campaign is our best method of testing to verify what works on paper will work in space," said Charlie Lundquist, NASA's Orion crew and service module manager. "This is how we validate our design."

These tests were conducted in a structure dubbed the static loads test fixture. Some 20 feet tall, the stand is used by engineers to validate the spacecraft's design. The stand is equipped with hydraulic cylinders that press and tug at Orion to simulate the pressures it will encounter when it travels into the black. All total, Orion had eight different types of stresses placed on it that the spacecraft is expected to encounter on its mission. According to NASA, the stand has more than 1,000 gauges used to monitor how Orion handled the loads, which ranged anywhere between 1,000 to 240,000 pounds.

While this test addressed a problem that Orion had encountered in the road to launch, engineers at KSC have also moved forward with other tests required before Orion can be launched.

From May 13-27, Lockheed-Martin, the prime contractor on Orion, conducted pyrotechnic bolt tests. "Pyro bolts" are explosive fixtures meant to separate Orion from the Launch Abort System, or "LAS." The LAS is a vital safety component used to propel astronauts away from Orion in the case of a failure on ascent. During these tests engineers individually tested five breakable bolts to ensure they would work.

"The purpose of the test was to reduce the shock levels on Orion when the launch abort system is jettisoned," said Lockheed-Martin's John Blair. "Several different materials and detonation device designs were tested on the GTA, providing data that will be evaluated to choose the best design for Exploration Flight Test-1."

NASA plans to launch Orion atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37. Orion will travel unmanned approximately 3,600 miles into space. When it returns to Earth, it will be traveling at about 25,000 mph. In so doing, Orion will validate Orion's heat shield. The verification of this key component is just one of several that will be tested during this important test flight.

EFT-1 will serve as a shake-down cruise of Orion's design. How well it handles launch, the space environment, reentry, the deployment of parachutes, as well as other loads and stresses on the spacecraft's frame, will be tested under real-world conditions.

NASA's Biggest Rocket Yet Aims for 2017 Test Flight

Rod Pyle - Space.com

NASA's largest rocket yet, a vehicle under development called the Space Launch System (SLS), is on track for its first test flight in 2017, according to experts who spoke at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach last month.

The rocket is designed to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. Meanwhile, NASA plans to leave travel to low-Earth orbit to commercial space companies, which are developing private space taxis to take over the job vacated by the retired space shuttle.

"We started working on Space Launch System concepts 10 years ago," said former astronaut David Leestma, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, who now heads the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We want to take NASA well beyond the space station. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and it will be safe, affordable and sustainable."

The new super-rocket will be able to boost 143 tons (130 metric tons) to orbit using many existing components in its construction. The main liquid-fueled engines are leftovers from the shuttle program, as are the giant solid rocket boosters that will flank the rocket. Only the core, or central structure, will be completely new.

The shuttle program ended with 14 flyable engines, and there are two more that could be ready to go with minimal work, said Jim Paulsen from rocket engine maker Pratt & Whitney/Rocketdyne. "We are in good shape with the [shuttle main] engines," he added.

The solid rocket boosters are being readied by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) in Utah. They need to be adapted for use on the SLS, and the changes are "right on budget and on schedule for a 2017 unmanned test fight," said Don Sauvageau, who works at the engine design firm. "Affordability is a big factor, and these will be 30 percent cheaper than they were for the shuttle," he said.

Atop the giant booster will be NASA's Orion capsule. Orion is slated for a test flight with the Atlas V rocket in 2014, during which the heat shield and re-entry systems will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds similar to a lunar return. NASA hopes to have Orion ready for a crewed flight by 2021.

The lifting ability of the SLS will allow the rocket to deliver payloads to a position called L2 (a stable orbit beyond the moon), perform an asteroid mission, or even fly an unmanned sample return from the moons of Mars. It would also allow NASA to send probes directly to planets like Jupiter without the lengthy gravity-assist swings by Venus and Earth as have been undertaken for missions launched by less powerful rockets. Transit times to the giant planet would be cut down to about three years.

The test flight in 2017 is planned to go beyond lunar orbit, with the upper stage of the booster powered by derivatives of Pratt & Whitney/Rocketdyne's J2 engines, which date back to the Apollo program.

In addition to the new components of the SLS, some reverse engineering of legacy hardware, such as the Saturn V's F-1 engines (capable of 1.5 million pounds of thrust), are being conducted. Whether or not such a large power plant will be built for future uses is unclear.

"We are ready to move beyond LEO into more ambitious missions," Leestma said.

ISS: A Future Beyond 2020?

Jim Hillhouse - AmericaSpace.com

Use of ISS is, per Section 501 (a) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010, to be operated until 2020. Although since the 2010 NASA Act was written NASA has talked about extending the use of ISS beyond 2020 to as late as 2030, the decision to operate ISS beyond 2020 has not yet been made.

One factor that will have to be considered in any decision to operate ISS beyond 2020 is the station's age. Completed in 2011, by 2020 elements of ISS are obviously aging; Zarya was lofted in 1996 with an estimated life-span of 15 years. By 2020, Zarya, lofted in 1996 with an estimated lifespan of at least 15-years, the Unity Node, and the PMA–1 will have been in orbit over 24 years; those elements launched in 2000 such as Zvezda, the P6 truss, and Quest will have been in orbit around 20 years.

By 2030, those elements in particular, and ISS in general, will certainly provide an unparalleled opportunity to witness how structures age in low-Earth orbit. But concomitant with that are the costs associated with the needed maintenance to counter the wear-and-tear of low-Earth orbit.

The issue of the costs of maintaining ISS has not been invisible to the station's international partners. There has been a rising chorus among the ISS international partners of their unwillingness to use what little human spaceflight funding they have beyond 2020 to maintain a +20 year-old low-Earth orbiting space station. Given the scarce funding picture NASA itself faces for years to come and the operating costs of ISS at just over $3 billion annually, the space agency is unlikely to be able to afford both ISS and a beyond-Earth orbit exploration program. The question of whether or not to continue ISS operations beyond 2020 or to move-on to the next phase of human space exploration to the Moon or beyond hangs like an albatross around NASA's neck.

The tight funding conditions at NASA during the past few years have also affected the Agency's commercial crew program. In 2010 it was assumed by many in the commercial space community that–based in funding projections by the Obama Administration of around $800 million annually for NASA's commercial crew program, which did not pan-out–in just a few short years, certainly by 2015, commercial space companies would be transporting crews to ISS.

Even if ISS were decommissioned in 2020, five years of ISS crew services–it was posited by commercial space advocates–would be plenty of time to "prime the pump" for a commercial low-Earth orbit market. But, as is so often the case in aerospace, progress didn't happen nearly so quickly as many in the commercial space community had hoped. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden testified late last April that, unless Congress approves the Administration's annual appropriations requests of $821.4 million in each of FY 2014, FY 2015, and FY 2016, for a total of $3.43 billion, commercial crew will slip from its current debut in November 2017 to sometime in 2018.

Other sources within NASA have indicated that, if NASA commercial crew funding remains at its current levels of $525 million annually, commercial crew flights to ISS will not begin until 2019, a year before ISS may be decommissioned. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has made clear that by not asceding to the Administration's very generous commercial crew funding requests will make it harder for the companies competing for the Commercial Crew Program to develop solid business plans given the current schedule to phase out the ISS around 2020.

Fiscal Year
Requested
Funded
Difference
Total Difference
FY2011
$500
$225.0
-$275.0
-$275.0
FY2012
$ 850
$406.0
-$444.0
-$719.0
FY2013
$829.7
$525.0
-$304.7
-$1,023.7
FY2014
$821.4
––
––
-$1,023.7
FY2015
$821.4
––
––
-$1,023.7
FY2016
$821.4
––
––
-$1,023.7
FY2017
$590.0
––
––
-$1,023.7
FY2018
$371.0
––
––
-$1,023.7
Total FY11-FY18
$5,604.2
$1,156.0
-$1,023.7
-$1,023.7
Commercial Crew Funding History and Projection. All numbers are for DDTE of commercial crew vehicles and do not include contract costs of crew transport to/from ISS. All dollar amounts are in millions.

NASA's Options

It's self-evident that NASA faces some very tough choices in weighing its human spaceflight future. Broadly speaking, NASA could:

Recognize that ISS has served its purpose, decommission it in 2020, and begin its trek towards beyond low-Earth orbit exploration.
Decommission ISS in the mid–2020's, continue funding commercial crewed development to completion in the hopes that a commercial space market for LEO develops by the mid–2020's, while beginning a scaled-down beyond low-Earth exploration program.
Continue to fund commercial crew development to its completion, extend the use of, and therefore funding for, ISS into 2030 so that commercial crew has a destination, while holding-back any beyond-Earth exploration efforts, potentially causing a rift between the U.S. and its ISS partners and running the risk of the Chinese beating the US to the Moon.
Working with commercial space companies to operate ISS as a gov't-private sector partnership that shifts ISS funding from government to the commercial sector over a 5-year period between 2015 to 2020.

Fiscal Year
Requested
Funded
Difference
Total Difference
FY1998
$2,501.3
$2,304.7
-$196.6
-$196.6
FY1999
$ 2,270.0
$2,304.7
$34.7
-$161.9
FY2000
$2,482.7
$2,323.1
-$159.6
-$321.5
FY2001
$2,114.5
$2,127.8
$13.3
-$308.2
FY2002
$2,087.4
$1,720.8
-$366.6
-$674.8
FY2003
$1,492.1
$1,707.2
$215.1
-$459.7
FY2004
$1,707.1
$1,498.1
-$209.0
-$668.7
FY2005
$1,863.0
$1,676.3
-$186.7
-$855.4
FY2006
$1,856.7
$1,753.4
-$103.3
-$958.7
FY2007
$1,811.3
$1,762.6
-$48.7
-$1,007.4
FY2008
$2,238.6
$1,685.5
-$553.1
-$1,560.5
FY2009
$2,060.2
$2,060.2
$0.0
-$1,560.5
FY2010
$2,267.0
$2,317.0
$50.0
-$1,510.5
FY2011
$2,779.8
$2,713.6
-$66.2
-$1,576.7
FY2012
$2,841.5
$2,829.9
-$11.6
-$1,588.3
FY2013
$3,007.6
$2,789.9
-$217.7
-$1,806.0
FY2014
$3,049.1
––
––
––
Total FY98-FY14
$35,380.8
$33,574.8
-$1,806.0
-$1,806.0
ISS Funding History and Projection 1998 – 2014

None of the above choices are ideal. Leaving ISS in 2020 would be as much a waste as not resuming our outward trek in human space exploration that stopped with the end of Apollo. Looking at the amount of money spent on ISS between 1998 and 2013 certainly doesn't take-away from that sentiment. Yet, the fact remains that if NASA is going to fund ISS through FY 2018 at an additional $16.4 billion, or nearly 50% of what was spent in 1998 – 2012 and close to NASA's annual funding, there is little possibility of American astronauts working beyond ISS anytime soon. Keeping ISS as a government-run facility ensures that NASA, and by extension the United States, will remain stuck in low-Earth orbit for the foreseeable future.

Fiscal Year
Requested
FY2014
$3,049.1
FY2015
$3,169.8
FY2016
$3,182.4
FY2017
$3,389.6
FY2018
$3,598.3
Total FY14-FY18
$16,389.2
ISS Funding Projection 2014 – 2018

ISS As A Beachhead For Commercial Space

One solution might be the very one that commercial space companies have curiously not proposed; operate ISS as a gov't-private sector partnership that shifts ISS funding from government to the commercial sector over a 5-year period between 2015 to 2020.

The United States finished its construction phase of ISS just over two years ago with the May 5, 2011 flight of STS–134. The money currently being spent by NASA on ISS is to operate the station, not to construct it. If–as commercial space boosters within, and external to, NASA like to intone–low-Earth orbit space is where NASA should let commercial space flourish so that the space agency can focus on exploration on the Moon or beyond, then should not ISS be privatized just as crew access to ISS is currently undergoing? If the goal is to have private companies take over low-Earth orbit operations, then why is NASA even thinking of operating ISS beyond 2020?

It would appear then in the interests of both the commercial space sector and NASA to privatize ISS. Controlling the destination of all current commercial crew development would remove market unknowns for the commercial crew transportation industry. And successful privatization of ISS would validate what commercial space boosters have long advocated, that a market does exist for low-Earth orbit access and operations. For NASA's part, privatizing ISS would liberate precious funding that NASA could redirect towards sending astronauts to the Moon and beyond.

Although some believe that private space stations will displace ISS before 2020, such notions are as much fairy dust as were those posited in 2002 that there would be 1,000's of suborbital, and 100's of orbital, commercial space flights by 2013. In today's world, as warned NASA Administrator Bolden, the commercial space crew companies' largest current unknown is whether they will even have ISS as a destination to transport crews to and from after 2020. Given the promises that a viable market exists for commercial space market in LEO, there is every hope that ISS could see decades of use though increased efficiencies as well as expansion that would occur under private enterprise.

The commercial space sector should be motivated to assume control over ISS because of what could happen were ISS decommissioned in 2020. Absent extending use of ISS beyond 2020, commercial crew transportation companies may only have a destination for a very short time, and the rather small contract with NASA that goes with that, after which those companies will have spaceships but no market. This would be in many ways akin to what happened in the EELV program in the early 2000's that nearly caused Boeing and Lockheed Martin to shut-down respectively the Delta IV and Atlas V programs. Nobody wants a repeat of that financial fiasco. A commercially successful ISS means a destination exists for commercial crew operators and a beachhead from which the commercial space community can expand operations in LEO.

One requirement of the ecosystem called free enterprise is that commercial companies have the ability to attract investment capital and provide a return on that investment that is competitive with other investments in the market as a whole. If LEO access is the profit center that the commercial space companies and supporters believe, then commercial operation of ISS should be not only possible, but as claimed about LEO access, profitable. This profitability could help validate the commercial space market and encourage investors to fund commercial crew access to an amount that substantially fills-in the funding gap that NASA's commercial crew program faces. By operating ISS at a profit, commercial space companies could gain needed experience in space operations and political clout, neither of which they have in abundance today.

There are many questions that must be addressed before asking the commercial space community to operate ISS beyond 2020. On Sept. 14, 2010, Boeing's ISS Support Contract was extended for $1.24B. From 1995 – 2010, the previous support contract and extensions total roughly $15B. As part of Boeing's 2010 ISS contract extension, it was to perform an assessment of the feasibility of extending the life of ISS through the end of 2028. Is that assessment in progress or completed? And if so, what are the results and how will they affect whether ISS is an appropriate facility for commercial space management?

Contract Period
Contract Amount
1995 – 2008
$14,350
2008 – 2010
$650
2010 – 2015
$1,240
Total 1995 – 2015
$16,240
Boeing ISS Engineering Support Contract

It would seem to be in the interests of the commercial space sector to approached NASA about operating ISS beginning in 2015 so that ISS is fully, if not very nearly so, privatized by 2020. A privatized ISS would guarantee that this destination would remain after 2020 for the commercial crew companies. Controlling the destination of all current commercial crew development would remove market unknowns such as whether NASA will still occupy ISS beyond 2020. Further, if LEO access is the profit center that the commercial space companies and supporters claim, then commercial operation of ISS should be not only possible, but like LEO access, profitable. This tactile profitability would encourage investors who are currently unwilling to put their money in something as unproven as commercial space. Additional investor funds would accelerate other commercial space endeavors that cannot now be funded under NASA's tight budget. In short, by profitably operating ISS in 2020 and beyond, commercial space could unleash the forces to accelerate the commercial space market in ways that are not possible today.

Station Astronauts Begin Studying Troubling Vision Issue

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station this week kicked off a four-year study of vision problems that surfaced among crew members several years ago and now rank among the top health concerns facing fliers selected for future deep-space missions.

Nineteen ISS astronauts have developed symptoms of impaired vision since the ailment was first recognized in 2005, according to Dr. Christian Otto, a Universities Space Research Association remote medicine specialist who serves as the principal investigator for the NASA-sponsored Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health.

The study, ultimately involving a dozen closely followed international astronauts, will search for a link between the blurred vision and the long observed shift of fluid from the lower torso to the chests and heads of fliers as they adjust to weightlessness. The fluid shift now appears to affect the eyes as well as the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.

"We are very excited to see this data as it comes down in the various parameters and get a better understanding of what is happening in spaceflight to the cardiovascular, central nervous systems and the eyes so we can develop countermeasures," said Otto in a June 5 NASA video status report.

"This is probably a dose response. The longer you are in flight, it's likely the worse this problem gets."

The vision issue joins much better-characterized bone and muscle losses and radiation exposures as top heath concerns for long-duration space flight.

"This is our first formal take at doing a study to document systematically eye health," Otto said. "Our hypothesis is that the intracranial pressure actually elevates in flight due to the fluid shift in zero gravity."

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, who began a 5-6 month stay aboard the ISS on May 28, became the first of the subjects expected to undergo closer vision scrutiny before, during and after their space flights with regular funduscopy and tonometry exams. The two techniques are used to observe the retina and back of the eyeball and measure intraocular pressures.

In addition, they are undergoing on-board ocular ultrasound exams to observe changes to the eye and optic nerve, which appears to undergo a flattening as intracranial pressure builds.

The subjects will be tracked for a year post-flight with similar exams to assess whether the symptoms abate.

"We are finding they are not returning to normal as quickly as we would like, and in some cases the abnormalities are persisting for years," Otto said.

Currently, veteran U.S. and Russian astronauts Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko are training for a one-year ISS stay in 2015. They too will be the focus of an ocular research strategy that has been two years in the planning.

Astronauts on ISS Conduct Study to Find Cure for Vision Problems

Raoul Girard - French Tribune

Observing that vision problems have become a serious issue over time, making a place for themselves in the top health problems, astronauts on the International Space Station have started a four-year study this week.

It has been found that the troubling vision problem had come out to be known by crew members in 2005. Fliers chosen for forthcoming deep-space missions often face the problem amongst other illnesses.

Thus, symptoms of impaired vision have been developed by a total of nineteen ISS astronauts. Remote medicine specialist, Dr. Christian Otto, from Universities Space Research Association, said that a link between the lower torso to chest and head-shift of fluid in fliers and the blurred vision would be looked for.

The shift is seen when they adjust to weightlessness. It is being said that the same now, supposedly, affects the central nervous and cardiovascular systems as well as the eyes.

The team said the longer a person was in flight, the higher the risk he had of worsening the problem he got.

"We are very excited to get a better understanding of what is happening in spaceflight to the cardiovascular, central nervous systems and the eyes so we can develop countermeasures", said Otto.

Noble scientists prep research for second space mission

High Plains Journal (Kansas)

Noble Foundation Principal Investigator Elison Blancaflor, Ph.D., and his team—Jin Nakashima, Ph.D., Yuhong Tang, Ph.D., and Alan Sparks—are boldly headed back to outer space. Well, at least, one of their experiments is headed back to the cosmos.

The Noble Foundation scientists are studying vital plant functions in near-zero gravity. The research focuses on how gravity affects cell development and root growth. On Earth, gravity not only helps to anchor plants but also orients plant growth and development for nutrient and water capture by roots, seedling emergence, and light absorption for photosynthesis in shoots—all of which have a considerable impact on agriculturally significant crops.

The Noble team hopes to uncover genes associated with these traits so that agricultural crops on Earth can be improved. "The best place to study gravity-related biological phenomena is in space where gravity is minimal," Blancaflor said. "This provides the best experimental control to compare with Earth-grown plants where gravity is always present. We can see what gene activities change and then we know they are related to our target traits."

For NASA, Blancaflor's research could lead to understanding how plants develop in space. Plants are a vital component of regenerative life support systems, providing sources of oxygen and food if humans were to embark on long-term space missions. However, to effectively utilize plants in an enclosed life support system, it is important to better understand their biology in the microgravity environment of space.

"It is exciting to get a second shot at conducting plant experiments in space," Blancaflor said. "Being able to do this twice in three years is remarkable."

In 2010, the team's first outer space research experiment culminated in successfully growing 14 petri dishes of Arabidopsis (thale cress) seedlings inside canisters (Biological Research in Canisters, where they were exposed to near weightlessness for almost two weeks on the Space Shuttle Discovery.

The current journey—funded by a second NASA grant (three years, $471,000)—will once again focus on Arabidopsis (a model plant used in many experiments), but the destination this time will be the International Space Station. The plants also will be grown on a different type of hardware, an Advanced Biological Research System that will allow the team to acquire a more detailed time resolution of root growth in space.

To accomplish this, a camera will take pictures of root growth, recording at regular intervals during the two weeks that the seedlings will be aboard the ISS. The new hardware will offer a chance to analyze gene expression and cell wall changes in the plant, so the researchers will have a deeper understanding of the molecular basis of plant development in space.

"Results from the 2010 experiments, showed that hundreds of plant genes changed expression in space," Blancaflor said. "We hope to deepen that understanding in the more controlled environment of the ABRS hardware. In the end, this knowledge has the potential to improve what we know about how crops grow here on Earth."

Although Blancaflor's experiments are not set to launch until November of 2013, preparations have already begun. The Noble team traveled to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida multiple times in October 2012 for a science verification test. In March 2013, they returned to KSC for a payload verification test. The SVT and PVT are dress rehearsals for the experiment. The team will travel to the Johnson Space Center in Houston this May 2013 to train the ISS crew in harvesting Arabidopsis plants grown on ABRS.

"It takes months and months of preparation and practice to get every aspect of this project just right," Blancaflor said. "But when you watch your experiment blast into space and you know you're work is on there, it is a life changing moment both personally and professionally."

The delivery system for Blancaflor's seedlings to space also will be a new experience. The NASA space shuttles were retired last year so transportation to the ISS will come from commercial rockets. Space Explorations Technology (Space X), a private spacecraft manufacturer based in California, was awarded a contract by NASA to develop next generation space vehicles to replace the space shuttle. Blancaflor's research is scheduled for transport aboard the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft on the third Space X resupply mission to the ISS.

Houston's NanoRacks seeking partners to bring higher quality protein structures to biomedical research in space

BioNewsTexas

Houston based NanoRacks, LLC has announced positive test results in an experiment on the International Space Station (ISS) to grow protein crystals in space using research hardware commonly used by biotechnology companies.

The experiment was recently conducted by Canadian astronaut and recent ISS commander Chris Hadfield and protein crystals produced were returned from space with crystals intact for scientific examination.

In a release, NanoRacks, a company formed in 2009 to provide hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station, notes that this proof of concept study demonstrates that a much larger number of X-ray crystallization experiments are now accessible to scientists in space, providing better structural models of disease-causing proteins. NanoRacks developed hardware and the company's commitment to collaboration has allowed scientists to rethink the way scientific experimentation is done in space.

In the photo below, Commander Hadfield performs a microscope survey of NanoRacks microgravity protein crystal growth samples while aboard the International Space Station.

"We have great crystals," says Principal Investigator Carl Carruthers, Jr. of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute at Houston. "The novel use of an industry standard research method worked perfectly."

"Today, with advances in technology, innovations being realized on the ground can now extend to space," explains Dr. Carruthers.

Heretofore, researchers relied on custom-built hardware for growing protein crystals in space under what is called a microgravity environment because the force of gravity is many times smaller in orbit. The NanoRacks team worked with Emerald Biosystems, a leading biopharma firm in Boston and Seattle that produces tools, reagents, crystallography screens and crystallization machines for protein crystallization, to implement their standard hardware for microgravity protein crystal growth.

"Using this technology allows researchers to use far less of their valuable protein sample in hundreds of different experimental conditions at costs far below anything previously possible in microgravity research. Within a couple of missions," explains NanoRacks CTO Michael Johnson, "We will have tested more proteins than all previous microgravity missions combined."

"Equally exciting, one of the proteins that grew on the space station was a therapeutic target for controlling metabolism and diabetes. These initial results are very encouraging," adds Dr. Carruthers.

"The positive results we are announcing today kickstarts a whole new chapter," says NanoRacks CEO Jeffrey Manber, whose company funded the pilot project." This creates a new pathway for the biopharma research industry. Each new protein structure discovery could mean new potential treatments for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimers or multiple sclerosis."

While there has been success in growing better protein crystals in microgravity before, NanoRacks notes that the pace of further discoveries has been encumbered by limited access, the requirement of a large protein sample volume, and flying only a few experimental variables. THe company works with its partners to utilize the most recent terrestrial research procedures and hardware, combining the newest technologies with the long microgravity growth time possible on the ISS, and these initial results suggest a new pathway in the utilization of microgravity for medical and drug research is now possible.

Why Grow Protein Crystals in Microgravity?

NanoRacks explains in the release that proteins are fundamental components of all living creatures, noting that in order to fully understand the function of a protein, researchers seek to determine its three-dimensional structure. While the human genome codes for ~30,000 proteins, the structure of most, and consequently a deeper understanding of their mechanisms, is unknown. Consequently, knowledge of protein structure also allows industry and academic researchers to develop novel pharmaceuticals that can activate or inhibit their function, therefore allowing regulation of critical disease pathways.

The company notes that one method used to determine a protein's three-dimensional structure is to grow a protein crystal and then analyze the crystal with X-rays. The better quality the crystals, the more precisely the structure can be determined. Protein crystals grow better in space due to the fact that thermal convection and sedimentation, two solution properties caused by gravity on earth, are virtually nonexistent in orbiting vessels such as the ISS.

Protein crystals grown in microgravity have been shown to further biomedical research with higher resolution protein structures, but not yet on a commercial scale. However, NanoRacks, with more than 100 space-grown crystals in hand, NanoRacks LLC is currently seeking collaborations with biotechnology and pharmaceutical company partners to bring higher quality protein structures to biomedical research, offering access to more high quality models of drug discovery targets. For the first time, scientists will be able to take full advantage of state-of-the-art biomedical research technologies in space using NanoRacks' flexible hardware and collaborative business model.

The next space station flight opportunity for the protein crystal growth system NanoRacks LLC has developed is scheduled for early 2014. NanoRacks has the only commercial laboratory in outer space, in the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station. Its facilities include plug and play NanoLabs, Research Platform 3, Centrifuge, Plate Reader, Microscope, MixStix for repeatable microgravity research opportunities, and can house plug and play payloads and a family of other research facilities. The current signed customer pipeline of over 60 payloads includes domestic and international educational institutions, research organizations and government organizations, vaulting NanoRacks into a leadership position in the emerging commercial market for low earth orbit space utilization and beyond.

NanoRacks' Smallsat Deployment and External Platform programs provide a commercial gateway to the extreme environment of space for earth and deep space observation and NanoRacks goes beyond the ISS, from suborbital services to GEO and on to the Moon and Mars.

NASA officials return CTB to ORHS campus

Kimberly Sutton - Montgomery County Courier (Texas)

It was mission accomplished for NASA officials on Friday as they visited Oak Ridge High School to return a student-made CTB that was on the International Space Station.

The CTB or Cargo Transfer Bag was made by Oak Ridge High School fashion design students, taught by Darlene Parsons, with sewing machine units donated to the school by HUNCH (High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware). This is the fourth year that Parsons' students have manufactured the bags.

HUNCH partners with three high schools in the Conroe Independent School District: Oak Ridge, College Park and Conroe. At least 150 ORHS students are trained to sew and conduct stitching and cutting inspections on the fire retardant bags used for the astronauts to take gear to space.

NASA Deputy Director of the International Space Station (ISS) Program Kirk Shireman, HUNCH Founder and Project Manager Stacy Hale, HUNCH Program Softgoods Expert George Kessler, ISS Research Manager Rod Jones and ISS Utilization Manager Joel Montalbano toured the fashion design classroom and presented the CTB that transferred precious cargo from Earth to ISS to Parsons and Oak Ridge High School.

Shireman spoke to Parsons in front of the whole faculty and staff during the end-of-the-year luncheon.

"We present this bag for your outstanding effort and your fantastic work that you and the students have done," he said.

Hale gave Parsons a certificate of flight signed by astronauts that were in space at the time the CTB was there.

"This certifies that the bag really was in space," he said.

Typically, the bags are not returned to Earth because of cost. Recently, the ISS program made special arrangements to return a few of these bags after being in orbit for more than a year.

The sewing machine units cost about $750 each, which HUNCH donated to the high school fashion design classroom.

"It's really something to see when all the students are working and the machines are humming," Kessler said.

"It's impressive that 30 students at a time can be kept this busy," Hale said.

Parsons said that her 150 students are mainly girls and are trained in safety, and in all the requirements and regulations for making the CTBs for NASA.

According to the HUNCH website, "The (ORHS) team has taken tests in controlled storage, linear measurement and stitch inspection. Students that meet the testing requirements have been set up (issued stamps) to perform quality control, making sure that procedures and process are in place and are being followed. The team is making great progress on fabricating the CTBs. Mrs. Parsons is an expert in her shop."

Shireman said the ISS plans to purchase 1,400 of the CTBs for missions to the space station.

China marks decade of human spaceflight

Christopher Bodeen - Associated Press

China's astronauts have braved the tension of docking with a space station and performed delicate tasks outside their orbiting capsule, but now face a more down-to-earth job that is perhaps equally challenging: Talking to young people about science.

Three Chinese astronauts will take flight this week, on Tuesday if weather permits, aboard a Shenzhou spacecraft to the dock with China's Tiangong 1 space lab. On the heels of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's wildly popular YouTube videos from the International Space Station, the Chinese crew plans to deliver a series of talks to students from aboard the Tiangong.

The lectures come as China's human space program enters its second decade, after going from a simple manned flight to space lab link-ups in a series of methodically timed steps in just 10 years. Meanwhile, its American rival appears adrift in search of new missions, lacking in political backing and uninterested in collaborating with China.

"China is in space for the long haul. The U.S. ignoring that and refusing to work with China will neither stop them nor slow them down," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the U.S. Naval War College.

The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft - its name means "sacred vessel" - is to be launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket, a safer and more reliable version of that used in previous missions. It will transport the crew for a 12-day stay aboard the Tiangong 1, which functions as an experimental prototype for a much larger Chinese space station to be launched in 2020.

The space classrooms mark the boldest step so far to bring the military-backed program into the lives of ordinary Chinese and follows in the footsteps of NASA, which used student outreach to inspire interest in space exploration and sustain support for its budgets. Thus far, Chinese astronauts have been paraded before the public at rallies and other events, but they've had almost no genuine interaction with ordinary Chinese.

The three-member team, announced on state media Monday and including one woman, will also conduct tests on the station's docking and life support systems, probing them for possible problems to be corrected in the design for the larger space station.

Although two Chinese spacecraft, one of them crewed, have already docked with the Tiangong, or "heavenly palace," since it was launched in September 2011, China's space program says its space station remains in mint condition.

China launched its first crewed mission, the Shenzhou 5, in October 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the U.S. to achieve that feat. The upcoming mission would be China's fifth crewed space flight.

Starting in 1992, China has trained a corps of 21 astronauts, including a younger cadre of seven men and women recruited over the past three years. Shenzhou 10's sole female member is Wang Yaping, a 35-year-old air force pilot whose earlier duties included seeding clouds in an attempt to clear the skies for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

Since the first 2003 manned mission, China has largely replicating the achievements of the U.S. and Russian programs but with updated technology and methodology. A single-man mission was followed by a two-man flight, then a pair of three-person flights, including the Shenzhou 9 that docked with the station and carried China's first female astronaut into orbit.

Though China has conducted fewer launches than the earlier U.S. and Soviet programs, it has recorded greater strides with each one, partly as a result of not having to conquer the great unknowns that challenged those programs.

"They don't have to reinvent the basic technologies for spaceflight," said Morris Jones, an Australian writer and space analyst who monitors the Chinese program.

While the material benefits of the Chinese program aren't always clear, it has brought China considerable international prestige, stimulated interest in science and engineering programs, and helped the military master new technologies in rocketry and remote guidance systems, Johnson-Freese said.

It also has allowed China to show some technical prowess and break away "from the image of a country that is best at producing knock-off designer shoes and handbags," she said.

The latest mission marks a turning point for the manned space program as it now shifts its target to launching the larger, three-module permanent station, Tiangong 2, seven years from now. The previous two missions to Tiangong 1 were considered experiments. From Shenzhou 10 on, they'll be treated as regular shuttle missions.

The future station will weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station. China was barred from participating in the International Space Station, largely on objections from the United States over political differences and the Chinese program's close links with the military.

In the meantime, China is turning its attention to sending a rover to the moon. That could be followed by a crewed lunar mission if officials decide to combine the human spaceflight and lunar exploration programs, as Johnson-Freese says they are now considering doing.

China will focus for now on development of the Long March 5 heavier-lift rocket needed to launch the Tiangong 2, said Charles Vick, an expert on the Chinese and Soviet space programs at GlobalSecurity.org.

"The focus is now shifting from the near-term to those future systems," Vick said, adding that the military continues to dictate priorities. "China's space program has been a very deliberately focused effort that focuses on specific science and technology goals."

'One giant leap' toward a NASA Armstrong center?

Alicia Chang - Associated Press

Neil Armstrong's name is attached to a lunar crater, an asteroid, more than a dozen schools and a museum, but not a single NASA facility is christened in honor of the man whose "giant leap" made him the first to walk on the moon.

All that could soon change on the fringes of the Mojave Desert, where leaders at the space agency's top flight research center are mulling the consequences of a proposed name change at the place where Armstrong was a test pilot.

The push by some in Congress to strike the name of former NASA executive Hugh Dryden from the facility has brought with it some questions: Is it justified to substitute one accomplished figure for another? At a time of squeezed budgets, is it worth the cost? And, besides: How long before the next space hotshot upends the world's first moonwalker?

Managers at the Dryden Flight Research Center have no say in what they're called - final approval rests with the U.S. House and Senate - and so they have left the soul-searching to others.

"I'm happy with the name Dryden Flight Research Center, but I'll be equally happy with Armstrong," center Director David McBride said. "Both men were leaders in the field."

Though not a done deal, brainstorming is already underway: Welcome signs bearing the Dryden logo would have to be updated. Research aircraft would need their sides repainted. Letterhead and pamphlets would have to be recycled. And then there's the obligatory dedication ceremony.

Dryden officials have not calculated a total makeover cost but don't foresee extra funds, meaning they would have to work within their $65 million operating budget to pay for the changes.

It wouldn't be the first rebranding of a NASA facility.

In 1999, the Lewis Research Center in Ohio - named for George Lewis, the first executive officer of NASA's predecessor agency - was changed to the John H. Glenn Research Center, after the first American to orbit Earth and former senator. A daylong celebration was held, complete with an F-16 flyover and a parade filled with floats, marching bands and a cameo appearance by Glenn.

Any festivities marking a Dryden-to-Armstrong swap would likely be more muted to save money.

A name switch often occurs to raise a center's profile and is not unlike what happens at universities, which shuffle the nameplate on buildings and stadiums as memories fade and institutions try to cash in on a bigger celebrity or generous donor.

"Dryden had a tremendous influence on the original space program," said American University space policy professor Howard McCurdy. Still, he added: "With few exceptions, time diminishes everyone's legacy."

The Dryden moniker has existed since 1976. Before that the center, located on the grounds of Edwards Air Force Base about 90 miles north of Los Angeles, was not named for a specific person. It was here where the sound barrier was broken and where the now-retired space shuttle fleet once landed. Experimental jets routinely buzz the skies.

Between 1955 and 1962, Armstrong was a test pilot at the facility - then called the High-Speed Flight Station. He logged 2,400 hours of flight there, including on the X-15 rocketplane that opened the way for manned spaceflight.

Less of a household name, Dryden was a child prodigy who enrolled in college at age 14. An aerospace engineer, he served as director of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor to NASA, and later as the space agency's first deputy administrator. He died in 1965; four years later, Armstrong stepped on the moon.

After the House in late February voted unanimously for a Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, Dryden officials started a checklist of signs that would need replacing on buildings, highway exits and aircraft. This is the second attempt at a name change by Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, whose district includes Dryden. The measure is awaiting consideration in the Senate, which failed to act last year.

Some in Congress have questioned the idea, given the fiscal climate.

"I doubt in this era of declining funding for NASA that either Neil Armstrong or Hugh Dryden would want a single precious dollar to be spent on a cosmetic facility name change when that money could be spent instead on fulfilling NASA's mission to reach for the stars," Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Maryland, said during the bill's debate. Edwards nonetheless voted for bill.

The Glenn Center spent about $260,000 on a new website, fresh signs and updated printed materials. To cut down on costs, employees were encouraged to use up the old letterhead when communicating with one another.

At Dryden, McBride said the metal entrance sign greeting visitors would be replaced immediately if the name change gets final approval, while other signs would have to wait. Most research aircraft would be rebranded as they come up for maintenance, except for the few that make frequent cross-country trips.

Graphic artists have yet to envision what an Armstrong logo would look like.

The thought of being affiliated with the Apollo 11 astronaut, who died last year, has excited area business owners, who believe the change could help them better promote the region to visitors.

"Neil Armstrong is much more recognizable. No disrespect to Mr. Dryden," said Kimberly Maevers, who heads the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance.

Some NASA facilities have been named after political figures - John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama - or players who have made significant contributions. For example, the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland was named for Robert Goddard, a physicist and inventor.

Meanwhile, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, known for its robotic missions to Mars and the outer solar system, is not named for anyone.

The Dryden name wouldn't disappear entirely if the change goes through. The proposal calls for designating the center's test range in his honor as a consolation.

Atlantis showcase on track for June 29 opening day

Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com

It's T-minus 3 weeks and counting until the grand opening of the space shuttle Atlantis attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, just miles from where the orbiter was processed and launched on 33 missions.

Final touches are being made to the exhibits, interactive displays and simulators inside the 90,000-square-foot home purpose-built to house the retired shuttle, as well as topping off the full-size, high-fidelity mockup of an external tank and solid rocket booster stack in front of the $100 million facility.

"We are on schedule to open June 29. Everything is a GO," said Tim Macy, KSCVC's director of project development.

On Friday, photographers and reporters were invited inside for a sneak peek at how things are progressing. The life-size Hubble Space Telescope replica was being hoisted into place adjacent to Atlantis during the media visit, crews were hooking up spacewalk simulators and workers outside were busy readying the upper section of the external tank for lifting into place.

Atlantis' payload bay doors were opened last month, the protective covers removed from the cockpit windows and a replica 50-foot-long robot arm was installed and secured with suspension lines from the ceiling.

Tourists will experience Atlantis illuminated by more than 1,700 theatrical lights as a video of space scenes is played on a massive screen behind the shuttle.

Officials expect to soon begin using employees and even tourists to go through the Atlantis hall for rehearsals and demonstration tests to ensure all systems are operating properly before opening day on Saturday, June 29.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit Enters Final Countdown to Launch

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

Space Shuttle Atlantis is "go" for launch.

The retired NASA orbiter and the new $100 million exhibit that bears its name is on schedule to open to the public on June 29 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

"Everything is go," said Tim Macy, the director of project development and construction for Delaware North Parks & Resorts, which operates the complex for NASA. "We are looking forward to having a big turnout that Saturday."

Macy, together with Bill Moore, the visitor complex's chief operating officer, updated reporters about Atlantis' status on Thursday, the day before welcoming the press inside the 90,000 square foot (8,360 square meter) "Space Shuttle Atlantis" exhibition to get a first look at the historic spacecraft in its final display condition.

"I cannot tell you the level of excitement and nervousness and all the energy that goes into this just as we get down to close under three weeks to Atlantis' [exhibit] opening," Moore said. "This is really the largest thing we've done."

"We think that visitation will definitely [see] a double digit increase," Moore added.

A very different type of attraction

Atlantis, which in July 2011 flew NASA's final flight of the shuttle program, now has a new mission as an educational museum display. Like its sister orbiters, it will be used to educate the public about the 30-year history of the shuttle fleet and, as NASA hopes, help inspire a new generation of space explorers.

Unlike the other shuttles — Discovery at the Smithsonian in Virginia and Endeavour at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, as well as the prototype orbiter Enterprise at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City — Atlantis is being displayed in "flight."

"Atlantis is a very different type of attraction," said Moore. "There are only three space-flown shuttles in the world. This will be the only one in the world that will be off the ground and in flight presentation."

After it arrived at the visitor complex in November 2012, Atlantis was mounted 30 feet (9 meters) into the air and then angled 43.21 degrees to one side. It then spent about five months shrink wrapped in 16,000 square feet (1,486 square meters) of white plastic to shield it from dust and dirt as its exhibition building was completed around it.

In April, Atlantis was unwrapped so that its payload bay could be opened, a process that required careful execution as its two 60-foot long (18-meter) doors were designed to operate only in the microgravity environment of space. On Earth, they required metal support braces and guy wires.

"It [went] as smooth as buttah," Macy exclaimed. "It was fantastic. We were very cautious but our plan worked as it was supposed to work. Everybody was a little nervous but it worked."

"We have opened the payload bay doors, extended the K-Band antenna and installed the Canadarm [robotic arm], so she's pretty much in show position," he added.

Quite a project

With Atlantis ready, Macy and his team are now focusing on completing the rest of the exhibition, including installing the 60 related exhibits that will tell the story of the orbiter, the International Space Station (ISS) and how astronauts worked outside the shuttle during spacewalks.

Interactive simulators and displays are being moved into place. A full-size Hubble Space Telescope now spans the building's two floors and Atlantis' wall-length digital screen backdrop has been loaded with a high-definition movie that will help give the shuttle the appearance of being back in space.

Outside the five-story facility, workers are assembling the towering gateway that will welcome visitors to Atlantis.

"We're finishing up the [external tank] ET and [solid rocket boosters] SRBs stack out front," Macy said.

Standing 184 feet (56 meters) tall, the full size replicas of Atlantis' launch components are partially in place. As of Friday (June 7), the bases for the two twin boosters still needed to be installed and the framework for the fuel tank was still being covered with orange panels.

"From the start of the construction in January 2012 to right now, it has been quite a project," Macy said. "It has been one of the largest projects we have taken on here at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex."

"We are in really good shape in terms of how close we are to our opening on the 29th of June," he said. "Construction is on time and on budget, and we feel really good about it."

END

Shuttle/Shuttle Concept Restart

Monday, June 10, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - June 10, 2013 and JSC Today

Commercial Crew Funding History and Projection. All numbers are for DDTE of commercial crew vehicles and do not include contract costs of crew transport to/from ISS. All dollar amounts are in millions.

ISS Funding History and Projection 1998 – 2014

ISS Funding Projection 2014 – 2018

Boeing ISS Engineering Support Contract

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Fiscal Year	Requested	Funded	Difference	Total Difference
FY2011	$500	$225.0	-$275.0	-$275.0
FY2012	$ 850	$406.0	-$444.0	-$719.0
FY2013	$829.7	$525.0	-$304.7	-$1,023.7
FY2014	$821.4	––	––	-$1,023.7
FY2015	$821.4	––	––	-$1,023.7
FY2016	$821.4	––	––	-$1,023.7
FY2017	$590.0	––	––	-$1,023.7
FY2018	$371.0	––	––	-$1,023.7
Total FY11-FY18	$5,604.2	$1,156.0	-$1,023.7	-$1,023.7

Contract Period	Contract Amount
1995 – 2008	$14,350
2008 – 2010	$650
2010 – 2015	$1,240
Total 1995 – 2015	$16,240