31 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶RTF Update
The full stack has been assembled. (More pictures are
here.)
Roll-out to the pad is scheduled for Monday.
T -45 days.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶RTF Update
Not sure yet of the import of this
Houston Chronicle article:
NASA's drive to resume space shuttle flights in mid-May encountered a setback Wednesday, with a key oversight panel saying the agency is not prepared to move forward.
...
For NASA, the work required to avoid delaying the mission until July appears substantial.
"We are not as far along as we anticipated we would be," said NASA's Allard Beutel, a spaceflight operations spokesman. "At the moment, there is no impact (from the task force's postponement) to our launch planning window.
Not sure if that means that there are still problems that have to be worked out before RTF, or if it means that there is some documentation owed the task force that may not be finished before the flight. More as it develops.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶The Beginning Of The End
After almost 24 years of operation, the
Space Shuttle program is coming to an end. Though the Shuttle still has five years of flights ahead of it, NASA already has in stock several of the things it will need for the remaining 28-or-so flights, and will soon begin shutting down the contracts no longer needed to support the program.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Virgin Maiden Flight Approaches
Per AFP:
Flamboyant British tycoon Richard Branson said Thursday his Virgin group's ambitious plans for commercial space flights are complete and the first fee-paying astronaut will fly with him into orbit in the next 30 months.
"The plan for the new spaceship is complete and work on the project will commence in the next three months, with the first commerical space flight to take off in two-and-half years," Branson told reporters in Bombay, India's financial hub.
30 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Picture Of The Day
Discovery is prepared for stacking with the SRBs and ET. Image by
Reuters.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶And Then There Were Three
AFP has an article about the plans for German astronaut
Thomas Reiter to join the Expedition 11 crew mid-mission, becoming the first non-US-or-Russian long-duration crew member of the International Space Station and restoring a three-person crew to the ISS.
+ 1 - 1 | § ¶Ready And Waiting
Per Space.com:
STAR CITY, Russia (AP) -- The next crew members of the International Space Station said Tuesday they were proud of their mission, which involves the U.S. space shuttle's return to flight.
The Discovery space shuttle is set to be launched and dock at the station in mid-May in the first mission since shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry in February 2003, killing seven people. Since then, Russian spacecraft have been the only link to the international space station.
29 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶On A Roll!
That, friends, is a beautiful picture.
Around 2 a.m. today, Discovery left the Orbiter Processing Facility for
rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be mated to the waiting ET/SRB stack. Rollout to the launch pad will take place Monday.
T -47 days and counting.
28 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶SRB Test
From Space Daily,
yet another of the cool things they do where I work:
A scaled-down version of a booster motor was successfully tested March 24 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The 28-second firing tested a 48-inch-diameter, modified NASA motor.
...
The test, replicating launch conditions, is part of the Shuttle program's ongoing verification of components, materials and manufacturing processes required by the Space Shuttle Program and the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project Office at the Marshall Center.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶RTF Update
Processing of the Orbiter Discovery is complete, and after delays this morning,
Discovery is scheduled for roll-over to the Vehicle Assembly Building tonight around 10 p.m. CST, where it will be mated to the ET-SRB stack. If all goes according to plan, the full stack will take the eight-hour journey by crawler from the VAB to Launch Pad 39B a week from today.
T -48 days. And counting.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Back From A Walk
The Expedition 10 crew of the International Space Station this morning
successfully completed an EVA this morning, completing tasks to prepare the Station for the arrival of the European Space Agency's ATV cargo ship, currently scheduled for late October (though some reports are saying Spring 2006 is more likely).
25 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Hubble Of Death!
Well, if there were any doubt,
Robert Zubrin of The Mars Society has officially lost it:
At that rate, the decision to waste $300 million in potentially useful humanitarian funds on deorbiting Hubble amounts to the willful killing of roughly 100,000 people – mostly children. It is irresponsible, irrational, and immoral in the extreme.
24 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶The Cosmos Awaits
Due to delays at Russian test facilities,
the launch of Cosmos I has been pushed back into May, at the earliest. Most recently scheduled for launch sometime next month, Cosmos I is a solar sail technology demonstrator developed by The Planetary Society.
23 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
On this date four years ago, Mir returned to Earth after 15 years in orbit, four months after permanent human occupancy began on the International Space Station.
Photo by AP, via Guardian Unlimited.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Hubble Law
Fresh from attempting to legislate whether Terri Schiavo lives or dies,
Congress is apparently considering doing the same with Hubble by passing a requirement that NASA service the space telescope.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶The Challenge Begins
NASA will announce
the first two Centennial Challenges tonight.
The Challenges will be X-Prize-esque contests design to spur innovation supporting NASA goals.
22 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶NASA On Your iPod
Science@NASA is now podcasting its articles, if anyone's interested. The SNG podcast has reportedly become one of the most popular podcasts available.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
On this date 10 years ago, cosmonaut Valery Polyakov returned to Earth after a record-setting 439 days in orbit; the longest single duration anyone has spent in space.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶The Flying Car
Per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
You might own a flying car when you get out of college. Your generation will probably send a person to Mars. You might even orbit the Earth with your kids for a family vacation!
Let's look really far into the future. What will life be like when you're a grown-up? How about riding around in your own family flying machine?
NASA engineers are working on flying cars, and the first ones might be ready in about four years. As reported by The New York Times, these cars probably will look like a small Cessna plane and have wings that fold back if you'd rather take the highway. Researchers think they will cost the same as a really nice on-the-road car. The second group of cars will carry two people and have small wings and a rear-mounted propeller.
21 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Saturns Of Huntsville
Much like the famous Cow Parade statues or Jackson's catfish, Huntsville, for its bicentennial is
allowing local businesses to purchase six-foot-tall Saturn V rockets that they can decorate and display around town.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Rendezvous With Ramen
Per The Daily Yomiuri:
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi will take instant noodles to space on his scheduled space mission in May.
Nissin Food Products Co. has developed the Space Ramen product for astronauts living in space. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has prepared about 200 kinds of meals for astronauts over the years, but instant noodles will be added to the menu for the first time.
Oh, man, like any good college student, I ate my share of Ramen noodles at Ole Miss, but I would have eaten even more if they were
Space Ramen!
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶RTF Update
The AP had a decent article this weekend about STS-300,
the rescue mission that will be flown if Discovery suffers damage during its flight that would prevent it from returning home.
Though I'm curious whether the writer actually fully thought through her claim that " Never before in 44 years of human spaceflight has NASA gone to such lengths to have a spaceship ready to rush to another's assistance." During Skylab, a rescue mission for the second crew got as far as having the launch vehicle on the pad and a crew portrait made.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Little Bang
Those who expressed concern about the story I posted last week about scientists creating a miniature black hole in a lab will love this one from Space.com:
Mini Big Bang Created, Puzzling Results Too Explosive
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Production Model Prototype
The technology behind the rapid prototyping machine -- a contemporary ancestor of the Star Trek replicator -- has been around for several years, but the models available today are hardly the sort of thing the average person could have in their own home. However, a breakthrough by some British engineers could change that: a team has developed the means to
use rapid prototyping machines to replicate rapid prototyping machines.
18 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first spacewalk, conducted by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov from the Voshkod 2 spacecraft.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶One Singularity Sensation
So it turns out scientists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in New York
may have created a black hole.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶RTF Update
Even if the CMG which shut down recently cannot be reactivated before May,
it will not affect Return to Flight, according to Station program manager Bill Gerstenmaier.
17 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
On this date in 1958,
Vanguard 1, the oldest man-made object still in space, was launched.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Enceladus Air
ATW readers may remember back late last year, as the Huygens probe was preparing for its descent to Titan, all the talk about what a big deal this was since Titan was the only moon in our solar system known to have an atmosphere.
Well, no more.
Cassini has
discovered a "significant atmosphere" around Saturn's moon Enceladus. The tiny moon, with a diameter of about 310 miles, is so small that it doesn't have enough gravity to maintain an atmosphere, meaning that it must be being continuously produced.
(What this means for the odds of other undiscovered atmospheres in our solar system, I don't know.)
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Spin Control
A circuit breaker mounted on the exterior of the International Space Station popped open yesterday,
cutting of power to one of the Station's attitude-control "CMG" gyroscopes.
While the Station can maintain adequate attitude control with only the two remaining CMGs, it would not be possible for it to reposition the Shuttle to conduct repairs if damage were incurred during liftoff.
Controllers are hoping that it will be possible to reactivate the circuit breaker and CMG remotely from the ground.
16 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
On this date 79 years ago, Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fuel rocket.
15 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Europa, Europa
Per BBC News:
The next big cooperative European-US space mission will be to Europa, the ice-crusted moon of Jupiter.
A joint working team is being set up to consider what sort of spacecraft would be needed and what each side could do.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Hubble: Round Two
So here's a wild, going-out-on-a-limb prediction: The appointment of a new NASA administrator will breathe new life into the fight over the fate of the Hubble Space Telescope. I've been unsuccessful in trying to learn Griffin's stand on the issue, but NASA Watch has
a blurb on the subject today.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Launch Schedule Update
Spaceref.com has posted the latest
launch schedule working document from the ISS program.
Among the points of interest:
- Planning is currently to add a third crew member to the ISS crew with the STS-121 launch in July, during the middle of Expedition 11.
- Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan's launch is currently scheduled for 6 July 2006.
- The Jules Verne ESA ATV is scheduled for launch 1 May 2006.
All dates, of course, are subject to change.
14 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
On this date 10 years ago, Norm Thagard became the first NASA astronaut to fly into space aboard a Soyuz vehicle, on his way for an increment aboard Mir.
Also, Uranus was discovered 224 years ago yesterday by William Herschel.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶New Administrator Update
I've had some time to read a bit more about the new administrator nominee, including some
very positive reactions to his nomination.
I've also read some on his views on the future of exploration. (Turns out he was NASA's top man for exploration over a decade ago). A statement he made in October 2003 on
"The Future of Human Space Flight" practically outlines both the spirit and content of the Vision for Space Exploration three months before it was announced.
He refined his views a bit more in a March 2004 statement on
"Perspectives on the President's Vision for Space Exploration."
I also realized that I had heard of Griffin before, since he served as co-leader (along with astronaut Owen Garriott) of a commission tasked by The Planetary Society to put together a report on Vision implementation titled
Extending Human Presence Into The Solar System.
The report's recommendations included retirement of the Shuttle Orbiters ASAP (far fewer than the currently planned 25-30); accelerated development of CEV to reduce or eliminate period of no U.S. space launch capability; development of a heavy-lift booster; research into new Shuttle-derived vehicles; and a refinement of the order of capability development for exploration (which could delay lunar landings, but speed orbital missions to Mars).
As has been previously noted here, Griffin's qualifications are exceptional, with experience in a wide variety of space and spaceflight fields. The only downside I've seen is a lack of experience in the political arena, but other factors could diminish any problems that could pose.
11 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶New Administrator
Michael Griffin has been named as
the president's nominee to be the new NASA administrator.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Flight Engineer Fincke
Per StarTrek.com:
There were other special guests in the cast of [Enterprise's final] episode. Playing an NX-01 Engineer in one scene was NASA astronaut Mike Fincke. Fincke made news on STARTREK.COM in December when he and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka received a "Starfleet Award" after their return from a six-month mission on the International Space Station (related story). During his stay in orbit, Fincke had an opportunity to speak with Scott Bakula using a very-long-distance phone connection; now he was able to chat with him in person!
(Note that there are more final episode spoilers at the link, but only official Star-Trek-approved spoilers.)
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶RTF Update
On SpaceDaily, an article titled
Space Shuttle In Shipshape Condition As Return To Flight Looms gives updates on the current status of Return to Flight preparations.
10 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶O, Voyager
Per SpaceDaily:
A little over 13 hours out from Sol, a veteran of the first space age - Voyager 1 - is working quietly in the depths of space as it travels away from our Sun at 17.163 kilometers per second. But now, NASA has told scientists working on these and other older missions that their missions may be terminated in October to save money, reports Nature.
...
Launched in 1977, Voyagers 1 and 2 are now more than 14 billion and 11 billion kilometres from Earth, respectively. Having visited all the outer planets except Pluto, they are on their final quest - to locate the unknown boundary between the Sun's domain and the realm where interstellar space begins.
Ground antennas are in regular contact with the spacecraft, which are expected to last until at least 2020 before giving out as their plutonium batteries decay.
09 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Today In History
Yuri Gagarin would have turned 71 today.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Super-Heavy, Man
Russian space engineers are currently working on designing a rocket that, I believe, would be
the most powerful booster ever made (at least in terms of payload to LEO). It's a lovely thought, but with all Russian announcements of next-generation spacecraft, I'll believe it when I see where the money is coming from.
08 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Another AERA Update
MSNCB's Alan Boyle has an article about the
"mysterious" AERA corporation, which has announced that it plans to have an operational commercial passenger spacecraft before Scaled Composites, despite having yet to unveil any hardware.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶More Shenzhou Non-News
For a while now, this blog has begun ignoring the occassional bouts of non-news about China's Shenzhou program, consisting largely of the nation from time to time announcing the small handful of facts it's released about the upcoming Shenzhou 6 mission as if they were new, instead of the same ones we've been hearing for a year and a half.
Space Daily has a story today that, in addition to parroting those bits of "news" (launch this fall, two person crew, several days duration), actually takes the time to speculate (and it is pure speculation) as to
why it's taking China two years to get around to launching its second manned spaceflight.
On a side note, Space Daily has now started using in-text ad links, where words in their stories are hyperlinked to barely related ads, making the site, impressively enough, even more annoying.
07 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶AERA Update
AERA Corporation, a recently announced commercial spaceliner that I posted about recently, has announced that it
has signed an agreement for use of launch facilities at Cape Canaveral.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
On this date 45 years ago, the Soviet Union selected
its first group of 20 cosmonauts.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Administrator Update
Space.com has an article today about
the search for a new NASA administrator, and why it's taking so long. No new possible candidates listed, though at this point it's become pretty clear that all of the "short lists" that have been published have been basically utter bunk.
04 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Lost Worlds
So it turns out the PlanetQuest counter may be off. According to
PlanetQuest Web site, a total of 145 planets have currently have been catalogued. However, a recent discovery means that count may be too high. Astronomers have discovered a
Jupiter-size star orbiting a larger one once a week. The smaller star was discovered much like some extrasolar planets are, by noting the dimming effect of the larger small as it was transitted by the smaller. The discovery raises the possibility that some of the other objects believed now to be extrasolar planets could in fact be small core-burning stars.
That said, that's just cool: A planet-size star orbiting a larger one every seven days. How awesome will it be when we can actually image that directly?
03 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Today In History
On this date in 1969, the Apollo 9 mission launched with the first Lunar Module to undergo manned flight tests in space.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Martian Motion
Per NASA JPL:
On three consecutive days, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity accomplished unprecedented feats of martian motion, covering more total ground in that period than either Opportunity or its twin, Spirit, did in their first 70 days on Mars.
02 March 2005
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Picture Of The Day
The External Tank has been mated to the Solid Rocket Boosters for Discovery's STS-114 Return To Flight mission, currently scheduled for May 15. Photo courtey NASA.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Legacy
Per The AP:
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - When the space shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas, it scattered 84,000 pieces of debris, and most of it has never been closely analyzed. Now, two years after the disaster that killed seven astronauts, Lehigh University students are getting a rare look at these unexamined parts — and NASA hopes their findings might contribute to the design of a next-generation space vehicle.
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶CEV RFP
Taking another early step toward the development of America's next spacecraft,
NASA yesterday issued a Request for Proposals for the Crew Exploration Vehicle. Proposals from contractors interested in developing the spacecraft are due May 2, and two contractors will be selected in September. The two selected will then spend the next three years developing a flightworthy boilerplate of their design, and a fly-off between the two is planned for 2008, at which time the development contract will be awarded to the winner.
01 March 2005
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Today In History
On this date in 1966, the Soviet Venera 3 spacecraft impacted on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.
On the 16th anniversary of that landing, the Soviets returned to Venus with the Venera 13 lander, which survived for two hours on the surface and sent back the first color photographs.
(Image at right is from
this site.)
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Launching The Future
Though it seems unlikely for a year that saw only two orbital manned space launches,
2004 may prove to be the most important year in spaceflight history, according to a writer for the National Space Society, but that depends entirely on the future.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Station Prepares For RTF
Among the cargo being delivered to the International Space Station aboard the
Progress supply ship launched yesterday are the digital cameras and lenses that station residents will use to photograph the underside of Discovery to verify inspection techniques when the Shuttle returns to flight in about two and a half months.
