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From: "Nakamura, Stacey T. (JSC-NC211)" <stacey.t.nakamura@nasa.gov>
Date: September 16, 2014 11:40:16 AM CDT
To: "Nakamura, Stacey T. (JSC-NC211)" <stacey.t.nakamura@nasa.gov>
Cc: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: JSC Today - Tuesday, September 16, 2014

 

 

 

NASA to Make Major Announcement Today About Astronaut Transport to the International Space Station

NASA will make a major announcement today at 3 p.m. Central regarding the return of human spaceflight launches to the United States.  Follow the event live on NASA TV, the web and social media using #LaunchAmerica.

 

·         NASA to Make Major Announcement Today About Astronaut Transport to the International Space Station

09.16.14 - NASA will make a major announcement today at 4 p.m. EDT regarding the return of human spaceflight launches to the United States. The agency will make the announcement during a news conference from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the ...

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/nasa-to-make-major-announcement-today-about-astronaut-transport-to-the/

 

 

 

 

From: JSC Today [mailto:jsc-jsctoday@mail.nasa.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 6:00 AM
To: JSC-Today
Subject: JSC Today - Tuesday, September 16, 2014

 

 

 

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  Save the Date: Watch Exp. 41 Launch in Teague -  What's Faster Than a Speeding Bullet and ... -  NASA Honor Awards Ceremony - Today -  Oct. 9 Safety and Health Day - Dare to Be AWARE -  Recent JSC Announcement Organizations/Social -  Today: Alcohol Awareness -  NSBE Visions for Human Spaceflight Brown Bag -  Reminder for HERG Awards Luncheon -  You Can Do Better Than 'Yo Quiero Taco Bell' -  September INCOSE Meeting: Emergency Management -  Correction: JSC Contractor Safety & Health Forum -  Parent's Night Out at Starport - Sept. 19 -  Latin Dance Introduction: Oct. 17 from 8 to 9 p.m. Jobs and Training -  CGE Travel System Live Lab - Sept. 17 -  Engineer to Entrepreneur

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Headlines Save the Date: Watch Exp. 41 Launch in Teague NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev will launch to the International Space Station Thursday, Sept. 25, in a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:23 p.m. CDT. Doors to the Teague Auditorium will open at 2:30 p.m. for the launch event, which coincides with NASA TV coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. on the big screen, and will include video of the prelaunch activities leading up to and including the crew members boarding their spacecraft. JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility employees who cannot make it to the Teague Auditorium but have hard-wired computer network connections can view the events using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 404 (standard definition) or channel 4541 (HD). Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC or Safari on a Mac. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi, VPN or connections from other centers are currently not supported by EZTV. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP) If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367, or visit the FAQ site. Event Date: Thursday, September 25, 2014   Event Start Time:2:30 PM   Event End Time:3:30 PM Event Location: Teague Auditorium, NASA TV Add to Calendar JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 [top] What's Faster Than a Speeding Bullet and ... ... produces enough energy to light up 13,000 houses? Want to find out more about NASA's next human exploration spacecraft? Join the NASA and Lockheed Martin Orion Program Team for an all-hands presentation on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 1 p.m. in the Teague Auditorium. Those in attendance will receive the new Orion desktop paper model! JSC employees unable to attend can watch the all hands via USTREAM or via the mobile page. The program will also be broadcast live on JSC RF channels 2 (SD) and 52-2 (HD), as well as IPTV channels 402 (SD) and 4522 (HD). To submit a question for consideration in advance of or during the all hands, please email it to JSC-MPCV-Board-Support with "Orion All Hands" in the subject line. JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility employees with hard-wired computer network connections can view this event using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 402 (standard definition) or channel 4522 (HD). Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC or Safari on a Mac. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi, VPN or connections from other centers are currently not supported by EZTV. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP) If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367 or visit the FAQ site. Accommodations for a specific disability are available upon request. For more information, please contact JSC Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at 281-483-0607. Barbara Zelon x38782 [top] NASA Honor Awards Ceremony - Today Today's NASA Honor Awards Ceremony will be split into two groupings (2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.) to accommodate the number of awardees to be recognized and the expected attendance. This will help to ensure all guests and co-workers are able to attend, alleviating the wait time between awards. 2 p.m. Ceremony opens with the presentation of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, Public Service Medals, and NASA Exceptional Achievement and Public Achievement Medals. 3:15 p.m. Break and reception for the first round of recipients. 3:30 p.m. Presentation of remaining awards: NASA Early Career Achievement Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership & Public Leadership Medals, NASA Technology Achievement Medal, NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, NASA Equal Employment Opportunity Medal, and the NASA Group Achievement Awards. Followed by second reception. Event Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2014   Event Start Time:2:00 PM   Event End Time:4:30 PM Event Location: Teague Auditorium Add to Calendar Jessica Ocampo 281-792-8474 [top] Oct. 9 Safety and Health Day - Dare to Be AWARE On Thursday, Oct. 9, JSC will take some time focus on safety and health. JSC Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa will formally kick things off in the Teague Auditorium and introduce keynote speaker Dr. Aaron Chapa, whose topic is "Be the Best You Can Be." Get your flu shot in the Building 30 lobby between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Health and safety exhibits, displays, simulations and exercise demonstrations will be in the pond area, Teague lobby and Building 4S breezeway from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. End the day with the Health Run/Walk at the Gilruth Center. Sign up online! Don't forget about the competition for the coveted George Award. This special award, named in honor of former Center Director George W.S. Abbey, will be given to the directorate that has the highest percentage of participation for Safety and Health Day Space Race activities. Look for upcoming details on how to win! Event Date: Thursday, October 9, 2014   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:5:00 PM Event Location: Teague Auditorium, JSC Mall Area, Gilruth Add to Calendar Suprecia Franklin/Angel Plaza x37817/x37305 http://sthday.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Recent JSC Announcement Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement: JSCA 14-021: 2014 NASA Honor Awards Ceremony Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page. Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx [top]    Organizations/Social Today: Alcohol Awareness Did you know that "one drink" is a: 12-ounce bottle of beer; 5-ounce glass of wine; or 1.5-ounce shot of liquor? Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive drug. One in 12 adults either abuse or are dependent on alcohol. Several millions more engage in risky and binge-drinking patterns that can lead to alcohol problems. We will be learning about the difference between abuse and dependence and what binge drinking is. In addition, we will cover techniques for recognizing and addressing potential alcohol abuse in a co-worker or employee. You will also learn how to recognize signs that you should be concerned about and be given resources to offer support for yourself, a co-worker or loved one. Please join Anika Isaac, LPC, LMFT, with JSC Employee Assistance Program, for her presentation on "Alcohol Awareness." Event Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2014   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium Add to Calendar Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130 [top] NSBE Visions for Human Spaceflight Brown Bag The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Houston Space Professionals invite members of the JSC community, with a special invitation to all Employee Resource Groups, to join us for our August "Visions for Human Spaceflight Brown Bag" today, Sept. 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Building 1, Conference Room 360. This series is essentially an open discussion/review of the NSBE's Unlimited Horizons white paper, with each month devoted to review of a different section of the paper. Thus far, we have discussed rationales for asteroid, lunar and Mars missions and acquisition strategy. This month we will cover pages 27 to 35: Multi-Mission Spacecraft Elements, Space Vehicles and Planetary Bases. The NSBE is introducing this brown-bag series as a JSC 2.0 effort to stimulate independent and innovative discussion on topics of importance to the future of the agency and center. You are encouraged to download a copy of the paper. Event Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM Event Location: Building 1, Conference Room 360 Add to Calendar Robert Howard x41007 http://nsbe-hsp.org/index.php/chapter-events/projects/visions-for-human-... [top] Reminder for HERG Awards Luncheon The Hispanic Employee Resource Group (HERG) will kick off Hispanic Heritage Month/Mes de la Herencia Hispana with an Awards Luncheon today from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Mamacita's. Tickets for this event are $15 at the door and cover food, drink, tax and tip. Our guest speaker is HERG executive sponsor Annette Moore. During the Awards Luncheon, we will be presenting the inaugural SOL Awards, which were developed by membership of the HERG during a strategic-planning retreat earlier this year. SOL stands for Service, Outreach and Leadership. The three recipients are only known to the officers, so join us as we surprise the best and brightest among us. Make plans to join us for this exciting kick-off luncheon, and bring an amigo! Event Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Mamacita's Restaurant Add to Calendar HERG Officers https://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/hispanic/default.aspx [top] You Can Do Better Than 'Yo Quiero Taco Bell' Have you ever wanted to brush off your high-school Spanish at a Mexican restaurant and actually USE the language with a real native speaker, but were too embarrassed to try? Fear not—and gain the confidence to speak Spanish with your server at Spanish Over Lunch. This month's theme is ¡Comemos!, or, "Let's eat!" Spanish Over Lunch is a new monthly lunch-and-learn sponsored by the Hispanic Employee Resource Group. Beginner and advanced speakers alike are invited to participate in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Bring your lunch and ¡Comemos!, or, "Let's eat!" Event Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM Event Location: Building 3 Cafe Collaboration Center Add to Calendar Alicia Baturoni Cortez x30493 https://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/hispanic/Spanish%20Over%20Lunch... [top] September INCOSE Meeting: Emergency Management Jeff Galyean will speak at the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter INCOSE meeting. He will discuss his role as the Emergency Management coordinator for the city of Seabrook. Many of Galyean's functions are similar to systems engineering: working with stakeholders, resolving conflicting guidance and getting everyone to communicate on the same plan. Join us Thursday, Sept. 18, at Jacobs Technology (2224 Bay Area Blvd. at Space Center). Refreshments will be served, so please RSVP via email. Networking/social starts at 5:30 p.m., and the presentation begins around 6 p.m. Event Date: Thursday, September 18, 2014   Event Start Time:5:30 PM   Event End Time:7:00 PM Event Location: 2224 Bay Area Blvd Add to Calendar Ben Edwards 828-371-0018 [top] Correction: JSC Contractor Safety & Health Forum Our next JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum will be today, Sept. 16, in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom from 9 to 11:15 a.m. Our guest speakers include: Steven Cutchen, Chemical Incident investigator, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, presenting "Indicators of Process Safety Through the Lens of Macondo;" and John L. Allen, P.E., acting director, Laboratory Services Division, and chief, Fire Research Laboratory, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives, located in Ammendale, Maryland. Allen will be presenting on the "ATF Fire Research Laboratory" and talking specifically about their mission, capabilities and research, as well as several cases studies. This will be a very dynamic and informative meeting you will not want to miss. If you have any questions, please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012. Event Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2014   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:11:15 AM Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom Add to Calendar Patricia Farrell 281-335-2012 [top] Parent's Night Out at Starport – Sept. 19 Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport. We will entertain your children with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, a movie, dessert and loads of fun! When: Friday, Sept. 19, from 6 to 10 p.m. Where: Gilruth Center Ages: 5 to 12 Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by the Wednesday prior to event. If registered after Wednesday, the fee is $25/first child and $15/additional sibling. Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/familyyouth-programs/parents-n... [top] Latin Dance Introduction: Oct. 17 from 8 to 9 p.m. This class is mostly an introduction to Salsa, but it also touches on other popular Latin dances found in social settings: Merengue, Bachata, and even a little bit of Cha-Cha-Cha. Emphasis is on Salsa and then Bachata. For the first-time student or those who want a refresher course. You will go over basic steps with variations and build them into sequences. Discounted registration: $40 per person (ends Oct. 3) Regular registration: $50 per person (Oct. 4 to Oct. 17) Salsa Intermediate: Oct. 17 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. This class continues teaching Salsa beyond that taught in the introduction class. You should be comfortable and confident with the material from the introduction class before moving on to the intermediate class. This is a multi-level class where students may be broken up into groups based on class experience. Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/recreation-programs/salsalatin... [top]    Jobs and Training CGE Travel System Live Lab - Sept. 17 Do you need some hands-on, personal help with the Concur Government Edition (CGE) Travel System? Join the Business Systems and Process Improvement Office for a CGE Travel System Live Lab tomorrow, Sept. 17, any time between 9 a.m. and noon in Building 12, Room 142. Our help desk representatives will be available to help you work through your travel processes and learn more about using the CGE Travel System during this informal workshop. Please feel free to bring any travel documents to be worked. This is real-time help and not a training class. Please click on the direct SATERN link below to register and receive SATERN credit. For additional information, please contact Judy Seier at x32771. SATERN Direct Registration Link: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Gina Clenney x39851 [top] Engineer to Entrepreneur The Houston Technology Center is pleased to host a 10-week lunch-and-learn series entitled "Engineer to Entrepreneur." If you have ever thought about launching your own business, this is the program for you. You will learn how to establish a corporate entity, develop a business strategy, pitch your strategy and market your products. Join us for a fun-filled program instructed by some of Houston's most accomplished business executives. Classes will be held for 10 consecutive Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from Aug. 21 through Oct. 30 in Building 45, Room 451. For enrollment information, contact Evelyn Boatman at 281-244-8271. Evelyn Boatman x48271 [top]

 

JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

 

NASA and Human Spaceflight News

Tuesday – September 16, 2014

NASA to Make Major Announcement Today About Astronaut Transport to the International Space Station

 

NASA will make a major announcement today at 3 p.m. Central regarding the return of human spaceflight launches to the United States.

Follow the event live on NASA TV, the web and social media using #LaunchAmerica.

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Corporate News: Bezos Startup Aims To Deliver Astronauts

Andy Pasztor – Wall Street Journal

 

The long-secretive space ambitions of Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com Inc., suddenly are about to get a lot more public.

 

Boeing-Lockheed venture said teaming with Bezos on rocket engine

Andrea Shalal – Reuters

A joint venture of Boeing Co (BA.N) and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) plans to announce on Wednesday that it will team up with Blue Origin, a company run by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos, to develop a new rocket engine, a source familiar with the plans said.

NASA's choice to fly crews to ISS could come today

James Dean - Florida Today

 

NASA as soon as today is expected to announce which company or companies have won contracts to fly astronauts from the Space Coast to the International Space Station starting by 2017.

 

Big Safety Tests Loom for SpaceX's Manned Dragon Space Capsule

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

NASA is expected to announce its choice for one or more private astronaut taxis any day now, and SpaceX aims to be ready if its name is called.

 

Apply to fly: Astronaut-led group launches contest to send public to space

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

A new astronaut-led, private space flight training group has launched a contest to redefine the "right stuff" by giving away trips to space in return for the impact those who go can make to the world.

 

NASA's second shuttle carrier jet lands on public display in California

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

For the second time this year, a NASA jumbo jet used to ferry space shuttles across the country has been moved for public display.

Rosetta team picks best landing site on surface of speeding comet

Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles Times

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

NASA Inspector Blasts Asteroid Protection Program

Marcia Dunn – AP

 

NASA's effort to identify potentially dangerous space rocks has taken a hit.

Profile | Mark Geyer, NASA Orion Program Manager

Dan Leone – Space News

 

Guiding development of the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972 was challenging enough before it required NASA Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer to herd cats on two continents and unravel a yarn ball of transoceanic bureaucracy to get the job done.

 

SpaceX plans Sept. 20 launch to ISS

James Dean – Florida Today

 

NASA today confirmed plans for SpaceX to launch its next International Space Station resupply mission from Cape Canaveral at 2:16 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, a day later than previously planned.

 

Editorial | No Resting on Curiosity's Laurels

SpaceNews Editor

 

In August 2012, NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission, well over budget and two years behind schedule, captivated the world when it deployed the Curiosity rover on the martian surface in a high-wire — literally — maneuver that entailed lowering the car-sized, nuclear-powered vehicle by cable from a rocketship hovering above.

COMPLETE STORIES

Corporate News: Bezos Startup Aims To Deliver Astronauts

Andy Pasztor – Wall Street Journal

 

The long-secretive space ambitions of Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com Inc., suddenly are about to get a lot more public.

 

Blue Origin LLC, the space-exploration startup Mr. Bezos has been quietly toiling over for years, is part of a team led by Boeing Co. that is expected to soon garner a NASA contract to ferry astronauts to and from the international space station, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The role played in Boeing's bid by Washington-state based Blue Origin, which describes its goal as "developing technologies to enable private human access to space at dramatically lower cost and increased reliability," hasn't been disclosed previously.

 

Over the years, Blue Origin has sought to avoid publicity and disclosed only sketchy information about its work on advanced rocket engines, vertical takeoff and landing spacecraft and other cutting-edge space technologies. Some of the efforts prompted government interest and technical cooperation, but most were funded entirely by Blue Origin or its backers.

 

But now, with Boeing slated to take the lead building and testing crew capsules for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Blue Origin is bound to attract at least some of the spotlight.

 

On Monday, a Boeing spokeswoman declined to discuss specifics of its bid, and press representatives for Blue Origin couldn't be reached for comment.

 

The new ties, however, also set up a budding rivalry between two renowned former tech entrepreneurs, Mr. Bezos and Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX, as the company is known, is a rival to Boeing.

 

Both men have been moving aggressively to stake claims in manned exploration and new rocket engines.

 

Exactly what Blue Origin will end up doing for Boeing remains a subject of discussion, according to one person, with both sides interested in exploring how to go beyond a current preliminary agreement. Blue Origin could supply components or technical knowhow, based on its earlier work on the performance of propulsion equipment, guidance systems or space capsules, industry experts said.

 

On Wednesday, according to former government and industry officials, Mr. Bezos or a representative is expected to participate in a news conference to announce a preliminary effort to develop a new rocket engine in conjunction with a joint venture composed of industry heavyweights Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing.

 

If the development succeeds, the domestically produced engines eventually would replace Russian-made engines on Atlas V rockets, which currently blast many of America's military and spy satellites into orbit.

 

The same rockets built and flown by the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture, called United Launch Alliance, are slated be used in Boeing's proposed plan to send astronauts aloft.

 

Blue Origin apparently has developed engines that are less expensive to build and operate than those currently used on U.S. Air Force rockets, experts say.

 

A spokeswoman for United Launch Alliance said she was unable "to discuss any potential announcement with any company."

 

But according to two people familiar with the agenda for Wednesday's event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Mr. Bezos or a representative is expected to participate in a briefing explaining Blue Origin's linkup with United Launch Alliance.

 

Boeing-Lockheed venture said teaming with Bezos on rocket engine

Andrea Shalal – Reuters

A joint venture of Boeing Co (BA.N) and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) plans to announce on Wednesday that it will team up with Blue Origin, a company run by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos, to develop a new rocket engine, a source familiar with the plans said.

Officials at Boeing and Lockheed declined comment. No comment was immediately available from Blue Origin or United Launch Alliance (ULA), the Boeing-Lockheed venture that uses Russian-built engines to power some of its rockets.

ULA had sent out a request for information asking the U.S. aerospace industry earlier this year for ideas on how to replace the Russian-built RD-180 that powers ULA's heavy-lift Atlas 5 rockets, which are used to launch many U.S. military and spy satellites.

Tensions with Russia over its actions in Ukraine have raised concerns that Russia could cut off deliveries of the RD-180 engines, according to U.S. officials, who hope to start funding work on a U.S. alternative in the Pentagon's 2016 budget.

The partnership agreement will pit Bezos against Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of Space Exploration Technologies Corp, or SpaceX, which is seeking certification from the Air Force for its own Falcon 9 rockets.

The certification was due to be completed by the end of this year, but may now slip into next year, according to U.S. officials. They said the process may be slowed while officials look into the recent explosion of a SpaceX experimental rocket that uses the same engine as the Falcon 9.

SpaceX is also competing with Boeing and privately held Sierra Nevada Corp. for a NASA contract to ferry astronauts to and from the international space station.

NASA is expected to award that contract to one or more bidders on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the process.

Boeing is poised to win the lion's share of that work, according to the Wall Street Journal, which also reported the expected ULA teaming agreement with Bezos.

Boeing would benefit from development of a new U.S. alternate rocket engine, since its commercial crew capsule would also be launched by the Atlas 5 rocket, industry officials said.

Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall this month said U.S. officials were looking at a joint government-industry development of a U.S. rocket engine and other options to reduce U.S. reliance on Russian-built engines.

Despite the concerns, Russia has continued to deliver RD-180 engines to the United States, with two engines arriving last month and three more slated for delivery this fall.

ULA says it has enough RD-180 engines on hand to last for two years. It has an $11 billion contract with the U.S. Air Force for 36 launches, but SpaceX, has sued in federal claims court to be allowed to compete for more of that work.

NASA's choice to fly crews to ISS could come today

James Dean - Florida Today

 

NASA as soon as today is expected to announce which company or companies have won contracts to fly astronauts from the Space Coast to the International Space Station starting by 2017.

 

The Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX are considered the leading contenders for the multi-billion dollar contracts to taxi astronauts to and from the station on privately designed spacecraft developed under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which is led from Kennedy Space Center.

 

The companies may receive word from NASA this morning before a public

 

SpaceX headquarters was abuzz on a recent morning as NASA representatives and the company's independent safety advisers met in California to review its progress designing a Dragon spacecraft to carry astronauts.

 

"As you can imagine, all the SpaceX folks here are waiting anxiously for some announcement to see what's going on," said former astronaut Leroy Chiao, who was there visiting as a member of the safety advisory panel.

 

That highly anticipated NASA announcement — expected any day — will reveal who has won a high-stakes competition to fly astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017, ending America's reliance on Russia to ferry crews to and from the outpost.

 

The decision will have an immediate impact on the Space Coast, home to NASA's Commercial Crew Program headquarters and the place from which all three known contenders – The Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX – will launch their missions, potentially bringing hundreds of new jobs.

 

While hardly a return to the "good old days" of a shuttle program supporting 15,000 people, said University of Central Florida Prof. Roger Handberg, "it gives hope to the Space Coast."

 

Longer-term, the one or more winning companies will try to grow a market for flights of non-NASA astronauts to low Earth orbit. They will pioneer a commercial role in human spaceflight that was considered a radical change when a White House panel endorsed it in 2009 and the Obama administration proposed it in 2010.

 

"It represents a new way of doing business," said Wayne Hale, a former NASA shuttle program manager. "The principles are to maintain safety and reliability that we're all familiar with in this risky enterprise, but also to do it at a much reduced cost."

 

NASA projects spending $3.4 billion over the next five years to develop and fly the new commercial crew systems — slightly more than the agency will spend this year alone on the development of an exploration rocket and spacecraft, or than it spent on the shuttle's last full year of operations in 2010.

 

That follows $1.5 billion spent since 2010 — not including the companies' undisclosed investments — primarily on SpaceX's Dragon capsule, Boeing's CST-100 capsule and Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser mini-shuttle, and related systems for launching them on SpaceX's Falcon 9 or United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rockets.

 

How much money Congress will actually provide, starting next year, remains uncertain. So NASA's first major decision is how many vehicles to continue funding.

 

Most experts expect two winners. NASA has consistently said competition is key to producing the safest, most affordable systems, and it doesn't want to rely on a single provider in case that company runs into problems.

 

"The program has been, in my mind, unfortunately starved for resources in its early years," said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University. "But it seems like Congress has finally woken up to the reality that this can't be done on the cheap, and that NASA needs the money that's been requested to move forward."

 

The result could be two roughly equal contracts, or one big winner and a smaller runner up. Or another combination involving one or several companies with funded and unfunded agreements.

 

Boeing and SpaceX appear on first blush to be the favorites, having been awarded twice as much money as Sierra Nevada in the competition's previous round in 2012.

 

A handful of experts claiming no inside knowledge about the decision and no preferred outcome, speculated to FLORIDA TODAY that SpaceX would be hard to beat, and that Sierra Nevada may be an underdog but shouldn't be counted out.

 

Each company must first prove it can meet NASA's voluminous safety requirements. Then, significantly, cost counts for about half of NASA's evaluation of the proposals.

 

Here are some of each company's strengths and weaknesses:

 

Boeing

 

An aerospace powerhouse that has participated in human spaceflight since its origins, Houston-based Boeing Space Exploration has received the most development money so far and may represent the safest pick politically.

 

"Everybody knows the name Boeing," said Chiao. "They're a big aerospace company, they know how to build spacecraft."

 

Key to Boeing's pitch is its promise to assemble the CST-100 capsule in renovated former shuttle facilities at Kennedy Space Center and to base up to 550 employees here, probably adding the most local jobs.

 

The CST-100 is based on heritage systems that stress proven technology over innovation, but it has never flown in space. It would fly atop an Atlas V rocket, which has launched nearly 50 times.

 

Many presume Boeing has submitted the most expensive bid, and the company has said continuing a commercial crew program without a NASA contract is doubtful. Employees have been notified to expect layoffs if Boeing loses.

 

NASA may weigh whether a legacy company is the best pick to spur an era of lower-cost human access to space, a mission embodied more by Boeing's smaller and younger "new space" competitors. If Boeing doesn't advance in commercial crew, it will remain a primary contractor involved in space station operations and development of NASA's new exploration rocket.

 

"There is a large contingent of folks in the space policy arena that feel that a new space company should lead the way," said Hale. "It's not entirely clear to me where all the political pieces are going to fall."

 

SpaceX

 

Its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule already deliver cargo to the International Space Station, and the Falcon 9, now with 11 successful launches, is the most affordable rocket available.

 

SpaceX would launch crews from KSC's historic pad 39A, which it leased from NASA earlier this year, while the other two spacecraft would launch from the Atlas V pad next door at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Astronaut launches from its former Apollo and shuttle pad would give KSC a boost.

 

SpaceX is pushing technological envelopes with efforts to develop reusable rockets and a Dragon that can land on land with helicopter-like precision — potentially game-changing innovations that might not work. The company might find performing under a traditional NASA contract more difficult than the more flexible Space Act Agreements the program has utilized to date.

 

Founder and CEO Elon Musk is revered in business and technology circles, but his brash approach has rankled some in the aerospace establishment and Congress.

 

"I don't think SpaceX can be turned down, unless they find just a real major technical issue," said Handberg. "SpaceX is so publicly and politically potent right now."

 

But he noted that SpaceX likely would add the fewest local jobs, since its manufacturing and development work is done elsewhere.

 

Started with a vision of colonizing Mars, SpaceX has said losing out on a NASA contract would slow but not stop the company's plans to fly people.

 

Sierra Nevada

 

The Dream Chaser offers the field's only alternative to an Apollo-like capsule, a winged vehicle that looks and works more like a shuttle, and thus appeals to many at NASA.

 

The lifting body design, evolved from one NASA started years ago, provides some advantages over capsules, like lower G-forces during reentry and flexibility to land on runways across the country.

 

"For the low Earth orbit job . . . wings are perfect," said John Curry, Dream Chaser co-program manager, during a recent presentation to the Canaveral chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. "Capsules are not the way to do it, in my opinion."

 

The Dream Chaser also would lift off on an Atlas V. Sierra Nevada has already booked a November 2016 launch for an uncrewed orbital test flight.

 

The company's Colorado-based Space Systems division has built rocket engines, spacecraft components and satellites, but never an orbital spacecraft like Boeing and SpaceX have. It promises a significant Florida presence to process and refurbish Dream Chasers, including plans to share the KSC facility where Lockheed Martin is assembling NASA's Orion exploration capsule.

 

Sierra Nevada has inked multiple partnerships with international space agencies, signaling its desire to broaden Dream Chaser customers beyond NASA and possibly to secure a future even without a NASA contract.

 

Boeing and Sierra Nevada share a disadvantage that seemingly helps SpaceX: their Atlas V rocket depends on a Russian main engine at a time when U.S.-Russian relations are deteriorating.

 

A Russian official's threat to stop providing the RD-180 engine for military launches seems less of a concern now, but SpaceX offers an option free of that uncertainty.

 

Whatever the competition's outcome, Chiao, who served on the Augustine Committee that in 2009 endorsed commercial crew flights as a viable option, said the program is a bright spot for NASA.

"I'm glad to see that this Commercial Crew Program is moving ahead and has been making some great strides," he said.

The upcoming decision is a big one for NASA and for many individuals like Curry, who left NASA for a riskier opportunity to help lead a Dream Chaser team that he said could "do something spectacular."

He awaits the news confident Sierra Nevada has submitted a compelling spacecraft design and spent its money wisely.

"The design of the vehicle is the best possible design that we can bring forward, and from that, I have peace," he said. "I'll let the chips fall as they may."

Big Safety Tests Loom for SpaceX's Manned Dragon Space Capsule

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

NASA is expected to announce its choice for one or more private astronaut taxis any day now, and SpaceX aims to be ready if its name is called.

 

The California-based commercial spaceflight firm continues to make strides with its entry in NASA's commercial crew competition, a seven-passenger capsule called Dragon. Indeed, SpaceX has already met most of the milestones laid out in the most recent round of NASA funding, which is known as CCiCap (Commercial Crew Integrated Capability), and plans to have all the boxes ticked by January, company representatives said.

 

"Pretty soon we'll be left with only the two big-ticket items, if you will, of the whole CCiCap program, which are the abort tests," former astronaut Garrett Reisman, head of SpaceX's commercial crew program, said late last month during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations working group.

 

"We have a pad abort test planned, and an in-flight abort test planned," Reisman added during the Aug. 27 talk. "The pad abort test is on track for November of this year, and the in-flight abort test is currently scheduled for January."

 

Filling the space shuttle's shoes

 

The United States lost the ability to transport its own astronauts to and from the International Space Station when NASA's space shuttle fleet was grounded in 2011. Ever since, the nation has been dependent on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to provide this service — for about $70 million per seat, in the most recent contract.

 

NASA's commercial crew program is designed to change this situation by encouraging the development of homegrown private spaceships. The agency wants at least one American astronaut taxi to be operational by 2017.

 

The commercial crew competition kicked off in 2010 and is now in the home stretch, with the final contract — known as Commercial Crew Transportation Capability, or CCtCap — expected to be awarded sometime this month.

 

Four companies remain in the running: SpaceX, aerospace veteran Boeing with its CST-100 capsule, Sierra Nevada with the Dream Chaser space plane, and the secretive Blue Origin, which is developing its own Space Vehicle. More than one of these firms could get a contract, agency officials have said.

 

"NASA has not specified a set number of awards under CCtCap," NASA officials wrote in a blog post last month. "In late August or September, the agency will select the company or companies that will build an operational space transportation system."

SpaceX: Crucial safety tests coming

SpaceX's upcoming abort tests are crucial. They'll show how the Dragon spacecraft — an upgraded, manned version of the capsule already flying robotic cargo missions to the space station for

NASA —could respond in the event of a problem during launch.

Both tests will take place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. In November's pad abort trial, Dragon will sit atop a truss structure rather than an operational Falcon 9 rocket, which SpaceX uses to launch the robotic capsule on cargo flights.

If all goes according to plan, Dragon's onboard thrusters will lift the capsule away from the pad, as could be required in the event of a launch malfunction.

"We're going to have a crash-test dummy inside and a prototype seat, so we'll get data from that," Reisman said. "We're going to have a very flight-like propulsion system as far as everything that goes into the abort, including the avionics, which are going to be identical to the avionics we plan for the flight vehicle."

The in-flight test will take things a big step further, mounting Dragon to a modified Falcon 9 and attempting to demonstrate the capsule's abort system at altitude.

Big plans in space

SpaceX wants to win the NASA commercial crew contract, of course. But ferrying people to and from low-Earth orbit is just one step along the road for the company and its ambitious founder and CEO, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

"The goal of the company is to make human civilization multiplanetary," Reisman said.

"To do that, he [Musk] wants to create revolutionary space technologies that will enable, eventually, a large number of people to have a self-sustaining presence on Mars," Reisman added. "Everything we do is vetted by whether or not it enables us to get further towards accomplishing that goal."

Apply to fly: Astronaut-led group launches contest to send public to space

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

A new astronaut-led, private space flight training group has launched a contest to redefine the "right stuff" by giving away trips to space in return for the impact those who go can make to the world.

 

Spaceship Earth Grants (SEG), presented by Star Harbor Space Training Academy, will award one ticket onboard a privately-operated suborbital spacecraft for every 50,000 applications it receives starting Monday (Sept. 15) through the end of the year. As the number of applicants increase, SEG will raise the rate at which space flights are awarded (to as high as one in 25,000).

 

The group, led by former NASA astronauts Leland Melvin and Ron Garan, believe that by opening space flight to as many people as possible, it has the potential to impact the way we think, behave and relate to our world.

 

"Space is thrilling; however, this is not just about creating thrill rides for people," said Melvin, SEG president, a two-time space shuttle astronaut and former NASA associate administrator for education. "There are aspects of space flight that can generate shifts in perspective to positively and profoundly influence the way people behave and think about our world."

 

"We want to facilitate that positive impact by awarding space travel to enthusiastic individuals who'll be influential ambassadors by sharing their new insights with others in a compelling and inspiring way," he said.

 

Entrants submit a short written summary and record a 90-second video answering how they would use their flight to "better yourself, your community, your country, and/or our planet" and how they would use their "unique set of skills and resources to share your story with the world."

 

The public will then vote for their favorite applicants from around the globe, identifying 1,000 finalists to be judged by the SEG Council of aerospace industry experts, former astronauts, space enthusiasts, educators and artists who share in the goal of making space travel accessible to all people.

 

SEG judges include Bill Nye, the Planetary Society's CEO and "Science Guy," former NASA associate administrator Alan Ladwig, astrophysicist Maraia Hoffman, and Frank White, author of "The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution."

 

"With the creation of Spaceship Earth Grants, the public has a new opportunity to achieve the dream to fly and help make the world a better place," Ladwig, who in the 1980s managed NASA's own space flight participant and shuttle student involvement programs, told collectSPACE.com.

 

Public voting will begin Jan. 5, 2015 and run through Feb. 28. The 1,000 finalists will be confirmed on March 20, and the winners will be announced on April 12.

 

In addition to the essay and video, entrants need to pay a one-time application fee of $15 to $90, depending on the relative wealth of the applicant's home nation. The money collected will first go toward funding additional spaceflights (according to SEG, the money for the first flight is already raised and being held in escrow). Any funds remaining will be awarded to projects or organizations that contribute to technologies or educational efforts that, like SEG, seek to improve the world.

 

The recipients of Spaceship Earth Grants will have their choice of space flight carriers from Virgin Galactic, XCOR, Worldview and Zero2Infinity. The winners will be trained at the Star Harbor Space Training Academy, a new, publicly-accessible, fully-immersive space flight training facility to be further revealed in October.

 

The first 5,000 people to apply to SEG will be entered into a secondary contest to win a parabolic training flight. One in every 100 entrants will be selected a winner for a total of 50 chances to experience weightlessness.

 

SEG is not the only contest or crowdfunding effort to offer trips to space. Land Rover recently announced a contest with Virgin Galactic aimed at adventurous individuals and the Mars One Foundation is giving away a space flight on XCOR's Lynx rocket-powered spaceplane to underwrite its plans for an Earth-based simulation of a future settlement on the red planet. Unlike those though, SEG's focus is on what the winners will do after they return from space, and the others contests are finite.

 

"This contest actually increases the number of winners as more people apply and engage," SEG officials said. "And we will do this contest more than once. This is a long term effort aimed at making the experience of space possible, not just once, but for as many people as possible."

 

NASA's second shuttle carrier jet lands on public display in California

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

For the second time this year, a NASA jumbo jet used to ferry space shuttles across the country has been moved for public display.

The younger of NASA's two modified-Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), known by its tail number N911NA, or NASA 911, was towed three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) on Friday (Sept. 12) from an aircraft operations facility to the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale, California.

The early-model airliner, distinguished by two large vertical fins attached to the ends of its horizontal tail, was parked next to a Boeing B-52D "Stratofortress" bomber on the west side of the outdoor aircraft museum. NASA 911 will now join the Airpark's other displays available to the public Friday to Sunday weekly.

NASA 911 was retired in February 2012 after 23 years in service to the space agency. It flew a total of 386 flights as a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, 66 of which were ferry flights with a space shuttle orbiter mounted atop its fuselage. It was built in 1973 and for its first 15 years flew passengers for Japan Air Lines.

Among the NASA shuttles it flew piggyback from Edwards Air Force Base in California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was Atlantis following the 2009 final mission to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA 911's first flight as an SCA was on Sept. 25, 1990; its first ferry flight was made with the space shuttle Endeavour on May 3, 1991.

Upon its retirement, NASA 911 had amassed 33,004 flight hours over its 38-year flight career. After making its final flight, the jetliner was initially set aside to serve as a parts provider for NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Also based around a modified Boeing 747, SOFIA uses the jumbo jet as a platform for a 100-in. (2.5-m.) reflecting telescope.

Though it is now parked at the Airpark, NASA is retaining ownership of NASA 911. The Armstrong Flight Research Center has provided the aircraft to the City of Palmdale on long-term loan for its public display.

NASA's original Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, NASA 905, is now on display at Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. That aircraft, which flew NASA's first shuttle approach and landing tests in 1977 and, after 70 ferry flights, delivered the shuttles to their own museum homes at the end of the program, was retired in November 2012.

NASA 905 is the centerpiece of a new $12 million public attraction scheduled to open in 2015. A full size replica of a space shuttle orbiter was mounted on top of the SCA in August. When the exhibit opens, the public will be able to tour inside both the mock shuttle and historic aircraft.

At present, the public visiting NASA 911 in California can only view the outside of the historic craft. The Joe Davies Heritage Airpark has plans though, to eventually open the SCA for tours inside.

The Airpark, which features almost 25 historic aircraft and related artifacts in an outdoor park-like setting, highlights the aerospace heritage of the surrounding area. It is open to the public free of charge from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with guided tours available Monday through Saturday upon request.

Rosetta team picks best landing site on surface of speeding comet

Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles Times

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

Early Monday morning the European Space Agency announced it had selected Site J on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as the target landing spot for the Rosetta mission's Philae lander.

The selection of the site brings the Rosetta team one step closer to being the first to land a spacecraft directly on the surface of a speeding comet.

The site is not ideal, according to the team of scientists and engineers on the ESA's Landing Site Selection Group. However, after a meeting at CNES (the French space agency) in Toulouse, France, over the weekend, they decided unanimously that Site J is their best option.

"I'm just gratified that we found a site that everyone can agree on that is safe," said the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Claudia Alexander, Project Manager and Project Scientist for NASA's supporting role in the mission. "The most important thing is to find somewhere safe."

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a rubber-duck shaped body about 2.5 miles across at its longest point. Rosetta spent the last 10 years looping around the solar system before it finally met up with the comet on Aug. 6.

Rosetta will continue to tag along with the comet over the next year as it zips closer to the sun, but to help scientists get a close look at the comet's icy nucleus, Rosetta will send a small lander down to the comet's surface.

Since August the spacecraft has circled closer and closer to the comet, eventually coming within 19 miles of it. At that distance, it can see that Comet 67P is a topographically dramatic world, with steep slopes and deep crevices and a scattering of boulders on its dark surface. That makes for pretty pictures, but is not great for finding landing sites. Part of the appeal of Site J, therefore, lies in its relatively shallow slopes, that should reduce Philae's chance of toppling over as it lands on the surface.

There are other benefits to the site as well, scientists say. Site J appears to be mostly boulder-free, and it gets enough daily light to allow the lander to recharge its batteries. It will also provide a relatively straightforward trajectory for landing. The Landing Site Selection Group expects it will take the Philae lander about seven hours to descend to the site.

"'J' isn't perfect, but overall it just rates better than the other candidate sites," said Joel Parker, director at the Southwest Research Institute and a deputy principal investigator Alice UV spectrograph on the Rosetta mission.

The lander itself is just 30 inches high and 3 feet across, but it is equipped with 10 instruments to help scientists better understand the composition of a comet's nucleus, and how it changes as it nears the sun.

"We don't know if comets are ephemeral things held together like snowflakes or really had like a rock or a snowball," Alexander said. "You can only tell by landing on it and drilling into it."

To help Philae stick to the comet, which has very little gravity, the lander will drill into the surface with ice screws almost as soon as it lands. It also has a harpoon system that will shoot into the ground.

Philae is currently scheduled to land on Comet 67P on Nov. 11. Between now and then, the Landing Site Selection Group will be busy analyzing the site for boulder distribution and to make the final call.

"We are really nervous," said Alexander. "There is a lot of risk, which means this may not work. People don't appreciate that as much as they should."

NASA Inspector Blasts Asteroid Protection Program

Marcia Dunn – AP

 

NASA's effort to identify potentially dangerous space rocks has taken a hit.

On Monday, the space agency's inspector general released a report blasting NASA's Near Earth Objects program, which is meant to hunt and catalog comets, asteroids and relatively large fragments of these objects that pass within 28 million miles of Earth. The purpose is to protect the planet against their potential dangers.

Most near-Earth objects harmlessly disintegrate before reaching Earth's surface. But there are exceptions, like the nearly 60-foot meteor that exploded over Russia in 2013, causing considerable damage.

In a 44-page report, Inspector General Paul Martin said the Near Earth Objects program needs to be better organized and managed, with a bigger staff.

NASA's science mission chief, former astronaut John Grunsfeld, agreed and promised the problems will be fixed.

"NASA places a high priority on finding and characterizing hazardous asteroids to protect our home planet from them" he said in a statement.

According to the report, the program has an executive at NASA headquarters and two offices in Massachusetts and California, each with six employees.

For nearly a decade, the report noted, NASA has been tracking near-Earth objects bigger than 460 feet across. The goal was to catalog 90 percent by 2020.

The space agency has discovered and plotted the orbits of more than 11,000 near-Earth objects since 1998, an estimated 10 percent. It does not expect to meet the 2020 deadline.

The program has insufficient oversight, Martin's office concluded, and no established milestones to track progress. In addition, NASA needs to do a better job of overseeing the various observatories searching for near-Earth objects, and teaming up with other U.S. and international agencies, the report said.

Profile | Mark Geyer, NASA Orion Program Manager

Dan Leone – Space News

 

Guiding development of the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972 was challenging enough before it required NASA Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer to herd cats on two continents and unravel a yarn ball of transoceanic bureaucracy to get the job done.

 

Orion had already weathered the cancellation of the Constellation program under which it was conceived when, in 2012, NASA brought the European Space Agency onto the project to provide thrust- and power-generating service modules for an uncrewed flight to lunar orbit then scheduled for 2017, and the first crewed flight in 2021.

 

In theory, this barter arrangement would satisfy Europe's debt to NASA for use of the international space station while saving the agency some money. In practice, international cooperation is adding to the risk that Orion's Exploration Mission-1 will slip beyond 2017. Geyer now says Orion may not make it to lunar orbit until sometime in 2018, at least a month later than NASA envisioned in 2011 when it settled on the basic design of the spacecraft and its carrier rocket, the heavy-lift Space Launch System.

 

While NASA is still clinging to the hope that the rocket could be ready in late 2017 — 2018 is likelier, the agency announced in August — Geyer says Orion is "struggling" to make the earlier date.

 

Doing the struggling on the ground is a workforce of about 3,000 people, counting both NASA civil servants and contractors from Orion prime Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver, which is getting $12 billion to build three Orion capsules of increasingly complex design. The last of these, the only one on the contract slated to carry astronauts, is scheduled to blast off for lunar space atop the Space Launch System in 2021. The first, a skeleton by comparison, is slated to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in December aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket in an uncrewed Earth orbit test flight of its all-important heat shield.

 

Recently, with his team in the midst of preparations for the test flight, Geyer spoke with SpaceNews staff writer Dan Leone.

 

How close is Europe to setting the shipping date for the first Orion service module they owe NASA?

 

They're finalizing their contract in September with Airbus Defence and Space, and they have challenges on the schedule that we are negotiating with them.

 

But when will they finalize the delivery date?

 

Exact delivery dates won't be set until Orion's Key Decision Point-C process is finished. Our plan is to have the final meeting in early January. That would be at the agency level with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot. There's a lot leading up to that, including my sign-off and [NASA human spaceflight chief] William Gerstenmaier's sign-off in December, I think.

 

If the European module arrives late, what options do you have to limit the delays to Orion's first lunar mission?

 

If they show up a little later than I planned, is there something they can do at the Cape? Can they travel some work to the Cape so they can get it to me earlier? That's what we're talking about now.

 

Wouldn't it have been easier to use the Orion service module Lockheed Martin was working on?

 

Sure, it's harder to work with someone in Germany than the guy next to you in the cube in Denver, but you have to look at the big picture: We're going to explore the solar system with other countries. It is a fact. Given that, it is important that we learn how to do that together. This European service module is a great beginning. These guys are experienced. These guys have flown the Automated Transfer Vehicle to space station. Now this is a different job. They're finding that flying to the Moon is much harder than flying to the space station.

 

Are you implying ESA's service module, which is based on that Automated Transfer Vehicle, is heavier than you would like?

 

Going beyond low Earth orbit is a much bigger challenge for mass, but we solved ESA's mass problem at their preliminary design review back in May.

 

How did you do that?

 

We pushed them pretty hard on some heritage stuff from the Automated Transfer Vehicle that was part of their mass assumption: pumps and solar panels and things. And I had some flexibility to give them on mass, so we allocated that margin and they closed their review. When we saw where they were and what they had done in the structure of the service module, we decided we didn't want them to spend any more time and money on the mass issue.

 

What Orion issues have you dealt with on the U.S. side?

 

There was the heat shield Textron [of Boston] made for us. This is the largest heat shield we've built in a long time. We had a good plan, but when it came out in the final cure we had some cracks in it. But we know how to repair them, like we did during Apollo, so we did. After that, we did another test to give us confidence in the stress levels and that took a little time.

 

And last year, you had the government shutdown to deal with.

 

Yeah, the furlough hit us for about one to two months of schedule there. We stopped some of the long-lead procurements because I didn't know when Lockheed was going to get funded. And we weren't allowed to fund the contract during the shutdown, so Lockheed pulled back on procurements.

 

Will your team start working on the next Orion spacecraft after the Orion test flight in December?

 

We're doing some of that in parallel with the work for the test flight. We're machining the barrel right now for the Orion that will launch with the European service module with the SLS. That's our welding pathfinder, and it's the last thing we need to do before we do the flight unit of the primary structure for the next Orion.

 

Before being put in charge of Orion in 2007, you were working on the international space station program. How does folding international partners into Orion compare with bringing Russia into the ISS?

 

This is much easier than bringing the Russians into space station, because we were already working with Europe when they joined Orion. What helped me a lot from space station was learning how the political process sometimes is going to drive our programs. It helped me to know that that's kind of how it worked sometimes: When the presidents change, or there's a big change in Congress, they're gonna do what they want to do. And NASA is so visible, especially human spaceflight. They all seem to put their fingerprint on it, even if they're not big space supporters. Things are going to change. Stressing about that can be a lot of wasted energy.

 

 

SpaceX plans Sept. 20 launch to ISS

James Dean – Florida Today

 

NASA today confirmed plans for SpaceX to launch its next International Space Station resupply mission from Cape Canaveral at 2:16 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, a day later than previously planned.

 

NASA said the launch slipped one day "to accommodate preparations of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket."

 

The launch would be the 13th by SpaceX's Falcon 9, and come just 13 days after the company's last launch from the same pad, of a commercial communications satellite.

 

That would be SpaceX's fastest turnaround between launches.

 

With a Sept. 20 liftoff, a Dragon capsule carrying 2.5 tons of food, supplies and experiments would be expected to reach the ISS and its three-person crew two days later.

 

If necessary, another launch attempt could be made the next day at 1:53 a.m.

 

After that, the mission would wait until after the Sept. 25 launch from Kazakhstan of another three-person crew to the outpost in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

 

The mission is SpaceX's fourth of at least 12 under a $1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract.

 

After launch, SpaceX is expected to make another attempt to recover the Falcon 9 booster from the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Editorial | No Resting on Curiosity's Laurels

SpaceNews Editor

 

In August 2012, NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission, well over budget and two years behind schedule, captivated the world when it deployed the Curiosity rover on the martian surface in a high-wire — literally — maneuver that entailed lowering the car-sized, nuclear-powered vehicle by cable from a rocketship hovering above.

 

As engineering feats go, the landing was nothing short of spectacular, a testimony to NASA's boldness and ingenuity — so much so that the rover's science potential was almost an afterthought.

 

Unfortunately, that's just how it appears to a panel of distinguished scientists who recently reviewed proposals to extend the missions of Curiosity and several other planetary probes. The senior review panel characterized the Mars Science Laboratory as a budding underachiever with vague scientific objectives, even as it recommended that NASA fund another two years of Curiosity operations at a cost of $115 million.

 

In its first two years, Curiosity collected and analyzed five soil samples of the martian surface, "a poor science return for such a large investment in a flagship mission," the 15-member panel said in its Sept. 3 report.

 

The report also noted that the mission's lead scientist, John Grotzinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, failed to show up to a Mars-focused meeting of the panel back in May. "This left the panel with the impression that the [Curiosity] team felt they were too big to fail," the report said.

 

Even after two years of Curiosity operations, the panel said it did not have a clear understanding of the mission's scientific objectives. Therefore, the report said, it was difficult to determine whether those objectives had been achieved.

 

One might reasonably conclude, based on the report, that the Curiosity science team took the extension of Curiosity operations for granted given the mission's status as a flagship and a showcase of NASA's technical chops.

 

In a Sept. 11 conference call with reporters, Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, and Mr. Grotzinger pushed back against the report's main criticisms. They pointed out that Mr. Grotzinger had an educational outreach meeting that conflicted with the senior review meeting and that he sent his deputy in his stead and also made himself available by phone. Fair enough, but one still can question whether Mr. Grotzinger and his superiors made the right choice about which meeting he should attend.

 

As for the criticism that Curiosity hasn't collected enough soil samples, NASA said quality trumps quantity. Even so, Mr. Grotzinger thought it important to point out that those five samples generated "millions" of data points.

 

Mr. Green went so far as to say that "within weeks, Curiosity fulfilled its goal" by discovering the key ingredients to life on the red planet. But that observation suggests there was a big mismatch between mission requirements and objectives — for example, why design the rover to last at least two years? — and hardly makes the case for another two years of operations. Moreover, one has to wonder now about NASA's scientific ambitions for Curiosity's twin rover, now being built for a 2020 launch at an estimated cost of some $2 billion.

 

One thing that's clear is there's a disconnect between the Curiosity science team and the broader academic community. This is a problem: The senior review panel is drawn from the same pool of mostly university-based scientists that help set long-term agendas for NASA's planetary program. These groups really need to be on the same page for the program to be successful.

 

The Mars Science Laboratory will never be regarded as a failure, but the project team nonetheless owes it to the science community and to the taxpayer to get the maximum possible scientific return from the rover. This is vital not only to justify the Curiosity's two-year extension but also to give the Mars 2020 rover mission something to build upon.

 

A failure to map out a more robust scientific agenda for Curiosity and Mars 2020 will give ammunition to critics who often accuse NASA of being enamored with technological stunts and of trying to relive past glories. The agency's world-class Mars exploration program is better than that.

 

END

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