Hope you can join us tomorrow at Hibachi Grill on Bay Area Blvd. at 11:30 for our monthly NASA Retirees luncheon.
Remember to bring family members and friends to re-meet past coworkers and reminisce about the good ole days or to share your retirement traveling experiences with the rest of us.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. Badged Employee Showcase of Thermal Vacuum Chamber A
2. Don't Know Jack? That's OK -- Get to Know Milt
3. Latest International Space Station Science
4. Starport's FREE 'Fitness 101' Classes are Starting Back Up Today
5. Administrative Professionals Luncheon
6. Yuri's Night Houston 5K -- Win a Trip to Russia
7. Blood Drive -- April 17 and 18
8. LEaD Application Prep Sessions
9. Pre-Travel to Russia Live Class
10. JSC Knowledge Online New Release
11. Do You Have a Telescope You Don't Know How to Use?
________________________________________ NASA FACT
" Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson of NASA was the first female commander of the International Space Station."
________________________________________
1. Badged Employee Showcase of Thermal Vacuum Chamber A
You are invited to a Badged Employees Showcase of Building 32 Chamber A Thermal Vacuum Chamber on Thursday, April 4, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Experience the last open viewing of the unique facility before the cleanroom is constructed and the James Webb Space Telescope is brought in for testing. Badged employees, please enter through Building 32 main (south) lobby.
Access to:
o Engineers
o Cleanroom
o Chamber Door
Building 32 Vacuum Chamber A and its iconic giant door are historic NASA assets that have been converted to house the James Webb Space Telescope during temperature variant space simulations. You can read more about the engineering behind the refurbished facility by going to our latest electronic version of the Roundup, pages 6 and 7: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/roundup/roundup_toc.html
Event Date: Thursday, April 4, 2013 Event Start Time:2:00 PM Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: Building 32
Add to Calendar
Susan Anderson x38630
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2. Don't Know Jack? That's OK -- Get to Know Milt
Milt Heflin may be recently retired, but his voice still echoes through the halls of JSC and on the Interwebs. Find out more about how Heflin's 46-year career at NASA shaped him, as well as his philosophy on being successful during JSC's new era of human spaceflight. The article can be found on JSC Features or the JSC home page.
Accidental hiring gem within the article: Be handy and resourceful.
Heflin is convinced that Wayne Koons, a manager in the Landing and Recovery Division, hired him because of his skills at installing and repairing household appliances while a student.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x33317
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3. Latest International Space Station Science
The Marangoni effect is the mass transfer along an interface between two fluids due to surface tension gradient. The surface tension gradient can be caused by concentration gradient or by a temperature gradient (surface tension is a function of temperature). On Earth, the effect of gravity causing density-driven convection in a system with a temperature gradient along a fluid/fluid interface is usually much stronger than the Marangoni effect, so JAXA is investigating the Marangoni effect on the International Space Station.
Read about it here.
Liz Warren x35548
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4. Starport's FREE 'Fitness 101' Classes are Starting Back Up Today
Are you new to the Gilruth Center?
Are you too intimidated to use a new machine?
Come by the Gilruth Center today during the 2013 Spring Safety, Health and Environmental Fair for an introductory class that will cover all the basic information you will need to get started on the safe path to fitness. Even if you are not a new member, we encourage you to come and learn something new.
These free classes are only 30 minutes long, and there is no need to register -- just show up at the Gilruth Strength and Cardio Center! Ask for Zach or Richard.
Classes today, April 3, will start at:
o 10:30 a.m.
o 11:30 a.m.
o 12:30 p.m.
Get headed in the right direction by coming to see all that Starport has to offer!
Event Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 Event Start Time:10:30 AM Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Strength and Cardio Center
Add to Calendar
Richard Wooten x35010
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5. Administrative Professionals Luncheon
Treat your administrative staff to a lavish event on Wednesday, April 24, at 11:30 a.m. Enjoy the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom as you have never seen it before, transformed into the ultimate restaurant experience. It's $20 per person or $150 per table of eight. Reservations are required by April 17. Call Danial at 281-483-0240 to reserve your spot.
Appetizer: Chipotle salmon cake over hill country slaw with lime cilantro ailoli
Salad: Mixed greens, spiced candied walnuts, red onion, sliced apples, bleu cheese crumbles with lemon tarragon vinaigrette
Entrée: Herb-seared chicken breast over goat cheese and chive mashed potatoes with roasted asparagus and sundried tomato pesto cream sauce
Vegetarian Entrée: Ratatouille-stuffed Portobello cap with goat cheese over brown rice with roasted asparagus and balsamic gastrique
Dessert: Sponge cake with Chambord mixed berries and crème chantilly
Event Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Event Start Time:11:30 AM Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom
Add to Calendar
Danial Hornbuckle x30240 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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6. Yuri's Night Houston 5K -- Win a Trip to Russia
The 10th Annual Yuri's Night Houston 5K Fun Run is less than three weeks away. Hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston, the 2013 event will be held Saturday, April 20, along a brand-new course through the streets of Nassau Bay, taking runners by former homes of many of the Apollo-era astronauts.
Sign up today for your chance to win a roundtrip economy class ticket, non-stop between Houston and Moscow. But hurry! Registration pricing goes up this weekend.
To register, click here. Volunteers are also needed. Please contact Mana Vautier if interested.
Mana Vautier 832-422-5494 http://www.yuris5khouston.com
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7. Blood Drive -- April 17 and 18
There is no substitute for blood. It has to come from one person to give it to another. Will there be blood available when you or your family needs it? A regular number of voluntary donations are needed every day to meet the needs for blood. Make the "Commitment to Life" by taking one hour of your time to donate blood. Your blood donation can help up to three patients.
You can donate at one of the following locations:
Teague Auditorium lobby: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Building 11 Starport Café donor coach: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Gilruth Center donor coach: (Thursday only) noon to 4 p.m.
Criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website. T-shirts, snacks and drinks are available for all donors.
Teresa Gomez x39588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm
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8. LEaD Application Prep Sessions
JSC is currently accepting applications for Leadership Enrichment and Development Program (LEaD) Class 3. LEaD is designed to provide GS-11 and GS-12 non-AST individual contributors and influence leaders with the opportunity to develop foundational leadership skills. Participants will participate in a year-long program consisting of four modules designed around the core competencies: Leading change; leading people and coalitions; results driven; and business acumen. Elements include: online and classroom training; subject-matter expert events; book clubs with senior management; the 360-feedback tool; and mentorship.
If you are interested in applying for LEaD and want more details on the program and application tips, please feel free to attend the LEaD Prep Session on Tuesday, April 9, from 1 to 2 p.m. in Building 12, Room 134.
For additional information, please contact Jessica Feinstein at x40989 or Christine Eagleton at x27838.
Christine Eagleton 281-792-7838
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9. Pre-Travel to Russia Live Class
Will you be traveling to Russia on a NASA-sponsored trip soon? Do you know what information you will need to provide to obtain a Russian visa? What other types of clearances are required, and how one gets them? Need to familiarize yourself with the procedures for Russian passport and immigration control, obtaining transportation from the airport to your accommodations, as well as to and from your meetings? Would some tips on Russian etiquette and social or business customs be useful?
For answers to these and other questions, join us at the JSC Language Education Center for the Pre-Travel to Russia Live Class on Friday, April 19. This two-hour class runs from 1 to 3 p.m. in Building 12, Room 158Q. Please register through SATERN. The deadline for registration is April 17. If you have any questions, please submit them to: pretraveltorussia@tti-corp.com
We will respond in 24 hours.
Delila Rollins 281-335-8000
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10. JSC Knowledge Online New Release
Features of the JSC Knowledge Online (JKO) site are constantly being improved as the experiences of engineers, leaders and entire programs are captured and reported for JSC users. The "Leadership and Inspiration," "Storytelling" and "Operational Excellence Program" are all focuses for improved searching and ease of use.
New to JKO is a collection of "Leadership and Inspiration" videos. Pete Hasbrook, Jim McIngvale and Walter Ugalde are among the many presenters sharing their experiences on human sustainability, multi-physics simulations, nuclear safety and systems engineering for Morpheus.
Let us know what you think! We'd love to hear your suggestions. Just select one of the user feedback links available from the "Shuttle Knowledge Console," "Taxonomy" or "Case Studies" tabs to let us know. Feedback can be anonymous, or you are welcome to leave your information for a prompt response.
Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://knowledge.jsc.nasa.gov/index.cfm
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11. Do You Have a Telescope You Don't Know How to Use?
Do you have a telescope you don't know how to use? Take a class at the George Observatory. We will be offering two classes on April 6. The first class will be on how to use a refracting, or reflecting, telescope, and starts at 2:30 p.m. (costs $30). The second class will be on how to use a go-to telescope, and starts at 4:30 p.m. (costs $35). For more information about these classes and to purchase tickets, visit this website.
Note: Park entrance fees apply -- $7 per person for everyone over 12 years old.
Megan Hashier 281-226-4179 http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=589&Ite...
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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: 12:30 pm Central (1:30 EDT) –Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer results news conference
Human Spaceflight News
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
HEADLINES AND LEADS
NASA Unveiling 1st results from antimatter-hunting experiment
Miriam Kramer - Space.com
NASA will reveal the first discoveries from a $2 billion antimatter-hunting experiment on the International Space Station on Wednesday. Scientists with NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy will unveil the new findings during a 1:30 p.m. EDT press conference that will focus on the first science results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). NASA officials provided little detail on the exact discoveries to be unveiled on Wednesday, but AMS principal investigator Samuel Ting has dropped some tantalizing clues. In February, Ting said the first results from the AMS experiment were just weeks away from being released, hinting that scientists would announce a substantial science finding. Ting is a physicist at MIT who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1976. "It will not be a minor paper," Ting said on Feb. 17 during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. NASA launched the spectrometer to the International Space Station in May 2011 during the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour. But the mission almost never came to be.
These Are Immune Cells Grown In Space
Francie Diep - Popular Science
These are some monocytes—a type of white blood cell in the immune system—that lived on the International Space Station. The cells were grown in an incubator with simulated gravity. They've been colored with antibodies so scientists can easily spot specific proteins in them. Scientists from Italy and Germany have been studying how these monocytes move, and found that the space-grown monocytes have altered cytoskeletons, which reduced their motility. That change may partly explain astronauts' weakened immune systems, the European Space Agency reports.
(NO FURTHER TEXT)
This is What Human Cells Look Like in Space
Tariq Malik - Space.com
Astronaut photos of Earth from space are undeniably amazing, but snapshots of inner space — particularly human cells — can be spectacular, too. A new photo of human cells in space taken on the International Space Station looks more like art than science. The image, titled "Goldfinger" by scientists, reveals a monocyte immune cell as a hauntingly translucent, reddish-orange object tipped with green accents. The human cell photo in space was taken on the station under "simulated gravity" conditions using the European Space Agency's Kubik incubator, which includes a centrifuge to mimic gravity in the weightlessness of space, ESA officials said in an image description.
NASA Mega-Rocket Could Lead to Skylab 2 Deep Space Station
Mike Wall - Space.com
NASA's first manned outpost in deep space may be a repurposed rocket part, just like the agency's first-ever astronaut abode in Earth orbit. With a little tinkering, the upper-stage hydrogen propellant tank of NASA's huge Space Launch System rocket would make a nice and relatively cheap deep-space habitat, some researchers say. They call the proposed craft "Skylab II," an homage to the 1970s Skylab space station that was a modified third stage of a Saturn V moon rocket. "This idea is not challenging technology," said Brand Griffin, an engineer with Gray Research, Inc., who works with the Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "It's just trying to say, 'Is this the time to be able to look at existing assets, planned assets and incorporate those into what we have as a destination of getting humans beyond LEO [low-Earth orbit]?'"
Kill the Space Launch System to save human spaceflight
Peter Wilson - Aviation Week
Even in the face of a budgetary spending cap and the ever-looming possibility of new cuts, NASA continues investing in a robust and diverse human spaceflight program. But with fiscal uncertainty expected to continue, America's space agency should consider reordering its spending priorities, particularly those aimed outside low Earth orbit (LEO). The human spaceflight program includes the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) as both a national and international orbital laboratory until 2020 and the funding of the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCICap) to provide for a "space taxi" to service the ISS. Then there are the components with missions beyond LEO: the Space Launch System (SLS) super-heavy-lift launch vehicle and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. Simply put, the SLS program should be canceled now to free up approximately $10 billion programmed for this decade. This money could then be redirected to continue the planned flight tests of the Orion spacecraft with the much lower-cost Falcon Heavy booster while making a robust investment in a first-generation space station in the vicinity of the Moon.
Hey Coders! NASA Wants You to Help Robot Astronaut See
Miriam Kramer - Space.com
NASA is asking software coders on Earth to help a robotic astronaut helper on the International Space Station use its cold mechanical eyes to see better. Robonaut 2 — a humanoid robot being tested by astronauts on the space station — is designed to perform mundane and complex tasks to help make life on the orbiting lab easier for human crewmembers. So far, the robot (which NASA affectionately calls R2 for short) has carried out a series of routine tasks on the space station, performed sign language and learned how to shake hands with human crewmates. But NASA thinks the robot can do more and launched two new contests under the $10,000 Robonaut Challenge on Monday to make it happen.
Europe's next ATV enters final preparations for its Ariane 5 launch
Space-Travel.com
Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to service the International Space Station is entering its final preparation phase for a planned Ariane 5 launch this spring from French Guiana on Arianespace's Flight VA213. Named after Albert Einstein, the ATV is being processed in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation building, where it was transferred yesterday from the facility's S5C large preparation hall into its S5B high-bay area. Riding on an air cushion pallet, the ATV was efficiently moved within the S5 building using internal transfer corridors that are maintained to clean-room conditions.
"Commercial space exploration may be hit"
The Hindu
The recent cutbacks in fundings to the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA) announced by the United States government may cause delays in the programme to build a new spacecraft as well as projects related to commercial space flights, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams said here on Tuesday. Ms. Williams also said she hoped that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA will collaborate closely in the future.
Sunita Williams keen on Indo-US joint space missions
Ayan Pramanik - Hindu Business Line
Sunita Williams on Tuesday revived hopes of collaboration between the US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in space exploration missions. On her visit to Kolkata at the invitation of the National Council of Science Museums, the Indian-American astronaut said that she would not only meet with students, but would also like to show them the opportunities in space research and missions.
Shenzhou spacecraft arrives at Chinese launch base
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
The spacecraft that will carry three Chinese astronauts into orbit in June arrived at the country's remote desert launch base Sunday for final testing and flight preparations, state media reported. Shipped in two cargo planes flying from Beijing to the Jiuquan space center in northwest China, the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft arrived at the launch base Sunday, according to a report by the state-run China Central Television. Technicians at Jiuquan will assemble Shenzhou 10's orbital, descent and service modules, fuel the spacecraft, and place it on its Long March 2F rocket over the next few months.
NM governor signs space travel liability bill
Jeri Clausing - Associated Press
Gov. Susana Martinez on Tuesday signed into law liability-waiving legislation aimed at saving the state's nearly quarter-billion-dollar investment in a futuristic spaceport and retaining its anchor tenant, British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. The new law exempts spacecraft parts suppliers from liability lawsuits by passengers. Lawmakers had previously exempted spacecraft operators from liability, but some space companies began passing up the New Mexico spaceport in favor of states that had extended those protections to suppliers.
Nitrogen Tire Inflation: Good Enough for NASA
Deborah Lockridge - Heavy Duty Trucking Magazine (truckinginfo.com)
On a family trip to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., last week, we were intrigued to see this display on the tires used on the now-retired space shuttle. It says space shuttle tires (made by Michelin, by the way) don't explode in space because they're filled with nitrogen, which has more stability at different altitudes and temperatures than regular air. As you may know, some fleets run their truck tires filled with nitrogen, as well. I haven't heard the argument about more pressure stability at different temperatures, but maybe that's one nitrogen proponents should look into.
How IMAX Pulled Spaceflight Down to Earth
Marina Koren - Smithsonian Magazine
Nearly 30 years ago, moviegoers got an unprecedented look into the lives of the space shuttle astronauts orbiting 280 miles above the Earth. And they witnessed it in extraordinary dimensions—on a five story-tall screen in booming surround sound. The Dream Is Alive pulled back the curtain on NASA's Space Shuttle program, giving the public an intimate glimpse into the previously unfamiliar lives of its members. Narrated by Walter Cronkite, the IMAX classic showed astronauts in full garb, practicing how to move in weightless conditions, using a water tank on land. Once in space, the film revealed the crew's reactions to watching the world turn as the orbiter circled the Earth at 17,000 miles an hour. It followed the men and women as they worked, ate, exercised and even slept in zero gravity.
NASA Marketing Video to Run Before New 'Star Trek' Film
David Wescott - Bloomberg News
When Star Trek into Darkness hits screens this May, Trekkies won't have to wait for the movie to begin to see images of far-off galaxies, or to be inundated with melodramatic tales of man's conquering of the unknown. "We are the explorers," booms the voice of Optimus Prime in a NASA marketing video that will air before the movie in select theaters. A remix of a longer NASA marketing video, the 30-second spot was sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and was crowdfunded on Indiegogo.
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COMPLETE STORIES
NASA Unveiling 1st results from antimatter-hunting experiment
Miriam Kramer - Space.com
NASA will reveal the first discoveries from a $2 billion antimatter-hunting experiment on the International Space Station on Wednesday.
Scientists with NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy will unveil the new findings during a 1:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT) press conference that will focus on the first science results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS).
"AMS is a state-of-the-art cosmic ray particle physics detector located on the exterior of the International Space Station," NASA officials said in a statement. Scientists are using the spectrometer to delve deeper into the nature of antimatter, dark matter, an invisible substance thought to make up a quarter of the entire universe, and other space mysteries. [See photos of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer in space]
Scientists know that every matter particle has an antimatter partner particle with opposite charge; for instance, the antimatter counterpart of an electron is a positron. When matter meets its antimatter counterpart, the two annihilate each other. That annihilation has led to the puzzling prevalence of matter over antimatter in the universe.
NASA officials provided little detail on the exact discoveries to be unveiled on Wednesday, but AMS principal investigator Samuel Ting has dropped some tantalizing clues.
In February, Ting said the first results from the AMS experiment were just weeks away from being released, hinting that scientists would announce a substantial science finding. Ting is a physicist at MIT who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1976.
"It will not be a minor paper," Ting said on Feb. 17 during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. Ting did not go into detail about the nature of the results, but did say they represent a "small step" toward understanding the true nature of dark matter, even if it is not the final answer.
Several NASA scientists and administrators will take part in the briefing. They include:
· William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
· Samuel Ting, AMS principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
· Michael Salamon, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science program manager for AMS
· Mark Sistilli, NASA AMS program manager
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is an international project tested and operated by 56 institutes from 16 different countries. The bus-size detector is managed by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Weighing in at a whopping 7 tons, the AMS experiment is one of the most ambitious astrophysics tools ever launched into space.
NASA launched the spectrometer to the International Space Station in May 2011 during the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour. But the mission almost never came to be.
In 2005, two years after the tragic Columbia space shuttle disaster, NASA canceled the AMS shuttle mission over safety concerns for astronauts. The move sparked a major backlash among the science community that ultimately led to Congress approving funding for an extra space shuttle mission specifically aimed at delivering the AMS experiment to the space station.
This is What Human Cells Look Like in Space
Tariq Malik - Space.com
Astronaut photos of Earth from space are undeniably amazing, but snapshots of inner space — particularly human cells — can be spectacular, too.
A new photo of human cells in space taken on the International Space Station looks more like art than science. The image, titled "Goldfinger" by scientists, reveals a monocyte immune cell as a hauntingly translucent, reddish-orange object tipped with green accents.
The human cell photo in space was taken on the station under "simulated gravity" conditions using the European Space Agency's Kubik incubator, which includes a centrifuge to mimic gravity in the weightlessness of space, ESA officials said in an image description.
To create the image, the cells were placed on gold-coated slides. As the cells grew, they removed the gold coating, which allows scientists to measure their movement in space. Antibodies in the cells designed to shine under a fluorescence microscope to track proteins created the photo's strange colors.
"Some cells, such as those in muscles and our immune system, are mobile. Others, such as those in our bones, are fixed," ESA officials said in a statement. "Knowing how spaceflight affects the mobility of cells is important for astronauts and mission designers."
On Earth, the mobility of a body's cells is dependent on each cell's cytoskeleton —the internal cell structure. Experiments in space, however, have revealed that cytoskeleton changes in orbit lead to reduced cell mobility.
"This process may be one of the reasons why astronauts suffer from weakened immune systems when living in space," ESA officials explained.
Scientists hope studies of immune cells in space, will help lead to countermeasures for astronauts on long-duration space station flights, and even longer deep-space missions in the future.
The European Space Agency is one of five space agencies that built the International Space Station. The space agencies of the United States, Russia, Canada and Japan are the other organizations. Construction of the $100 billion orbiting lab began in 1998. It has been manned by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since 2000.
NASA Mega-Rocket Could Lead to Skylab 2 Deep Space Station
Mike Wall - Space.com
NASA's first manned outpost in deep space may be a repurposed rocket part, just like the agency's first-ever astronaut abode in Earth orbit.
With a little tinkering, the upper-stage hydrogen propellant tank of NASA's huge Space Launch System rocket would make a nice and relatively cheap deep-space habitat, some researchers say. They call the proposed craft "Skylab II," an homage to the 1970s Skylab space station that was a modified third stage of a Saturn V moon rocket.
"This idea is not challenging technology," said Brand Griffin, an engineer with Gray Research, Inc., who works with the Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
"It's just trying to say, 'Is this the time to be able to look at existing assets, planned assets and incorporate those into what we have as a destination of getting humans beyond LEO [low-Earth orbit]?'" Griffin said Wednesday during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations working group.
A roomy home in deep space
NASA is developing the Space Launch System (SLS) to launch astronauts toward distant destinations such as near-Earth asteroids and Mars. The rocket's first test flight is slated for 2017, and NASA wants it to start lofting crews by 2021.
The SLS will stand 384 feet tall (117 meters) in its biggest ("evolved") incarnation, which will be capable of blasting 130 metric tons of payload to orbit. Its upper-stage hydrogen tank is big, too, measuring 36.1 feet tall by 27.6 feet wide (11.15 m by 8.5 m).
The tank's dimensions yield an internal volume of 17,481 cubic feet (495 cubic m) — roughly equivalent to a two-story house. That's much roomier than a potential deep-space habitat derived from modules of the International Space Station (ISS), which are just 14.8 feet (4.5 m) wide, Griffin said.
The tank-based Skylab II could accommodate a crew of four comfortably and carry enough gear and food to last for several years at a time without requiring a resupply, he added. Further, it would launch aboard the SLS in a single piece, whereas ISS-derived habitats would need to link up multiple components in space.
Because of this, Skylab II would require relatively few launches to establish and maintain, Griffin said. That and the use of existing SLS-manufacturing infrastructure would translate into big cost savings — a key selling point in today's tough fiscal climate.
"We will have the facilities in place, the tooling, the personnel, all the supply chain and everything else," Griffin said.
He compared the overall concept with the original Skylab space station, which was built in a time of declining NASA budgets after the boom years of the Apollo program.
Skylab "was a project embedded under the Apollo program," Griffin said. "In many ways, this could follow that same pattern. It could be a project embedded under SLS and be able to, ideally, not incur some of the costs of program startup."
Living beyond the moon
Griffin and his colleagues envision placing Skylab II at the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, a gravitationally stable location beyond the moon's far side.
Over the past year or so, NASA has been drawing up plans for a possible manned outpost at EM-L2. A station there would establish a human presence in deep space, serve as a staging ground for lunar operations and help build momentum for exploring more distant destinations, such as asteroids and Mars, advocates say.
The Skylab II concept could also help ferry astronauts to these far-flung locales, Griffin said.
"You can build multiple vehicles," he said. "If we were to send this one, the first one, out to Earth-moon L2, you could build another that that could be a transit hab. So rather than having to go back and use space station parts, you would be able to pick these off the line."
Kill the Space Launch System to save human spaceflight
Peter Wilson - Aviation Week
Even in the face of a budgetary spending cap and the ever-looming possibility of new cuts, NASA continues investing in a robust and diverse human spaceflight program. But with fiscal uncertainty expected to continue, America's space agency should consider reordering its spending priorities, particularly those aimed outside low Earth orbit (LEO).
The human spaceflight program includes the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) as both a national and international orbital laboratory until 2020 and the funding of the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCICap) to provide for a "space taxi" to service the ISS. Then there are the components with missions beyond LEO: the Space Launch System (SLS) super-heavy-lift launch vehicle and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
By the mid-2020s, the return on investment from human spaceflight in LEO will be determined by the collective human experience with the ISS, a smaller Chinese space station and possibly one or more commercial space stations. Much more uncertain are U.S. plans for human spaceflight beyond LEO. Currently, NASA plans to spend approximately $3 billion per year on SLS and Orion during this decade, the bulk of which would go toward the launcher program.
The plan is for Orion to fly around the Moon unmanned in 2017, with a similar, manned flight to follow in 2021. Consistent with the "flexible pathway" philosophy put in place after the cancellation of the Bush administration's plan to return to the Moon, a long-duration human mission beyond LEO has not formally been decided, much less robustly funded.
At present, the candidates include: construction and deployment of a small space station operating at a Lagrange point over the near or far side of the Moon, a flight to land on an asteroid or a manned orbital mission to Mars. The NASA plan is to develop this beyond-LEO human transportation system in the hopes that substantial U.S. and multinational funds will emerge late in this decade to pay for one or more of these missions.
But that is a risky plan. Without a credible long-duration human mission, this space transportation system could end up mothballed, possibly well before that first manned flight planned for 2021. Clouding the picture further are the likelihood of new cuts to the top line of NASA's budget as the result of the spending and deficit battles in Washington, not to mention the emergence of an alternative launch vehicle—the SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
To keep the SLS program alive during a period of continuing budgetary austerity could mean gutting the CCICap and other worthy NASA space science programs. Furthermore, the Falcon Heavy with its payload to LEO of more than 50 tons is now a much lower-cost alternative than the SLS.
Although the SLS program has powerful political allies, cancellation or mothballing down the road is a plausible scenario. To avoid this kind of fiasco, NASA and Congress should give serious consideration to a major restructuring of the current beyond-LEO human spaceflight program.
Simply put, the SLS program should be canceled now to free up approximately $10 billion programmed for this decade. This money could then be redirected to continue the planned flight tests of the Orion spacecraft with the much lower-cost Falcon Heavy booster while making a robust investment in a first-generation space station in the vicinity of the Moon.
An investment in such a cislunar station would provide—by the early 2020s—a multifunctional platform to act as a fuel depot, a workstation for robotic operations on the Moon and a habitat to protect against the more intense radiation environment outside of the Earth's magnetic field. This station could even be used as a habitat during longer-duration human missions to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.
Such a revised program would give NASA a real mid-2020s destination along with a rationale to help mobilize and sustain public, congressional and multilateral political and budgetary support during a period of federal fiscal austerity.
Hey Coders! NASA Wants You to Help Robot Astronaut See
Miriam Kramer - Space.com
NASA is asking software coders on Earth to help a robotic astronaut helper on the International Space Station use its cold mechanical eyes to see better.
Robonaut 2 — a humanoid robot being tested by astronauts on the space station — is designed to perform mundane and complex tasks to help make life on the orbiting lab easier for human crewmembers. So far, the robot (which NASA affectionately calls R2 for short) has carried out a series of routine tasks on the space station, performed sign language and learned how to shake hands with human crewmates.
But NASA thinks the robot can do more and launched two new contests under the $10,000 Robonaut Challenge on Monday to make it happen.
The new competitions, managed for NASA by the group TopCoder under the agency's NASA Tournament Lab, will give 470,000 software developers, digital creators and algorithmists the chance to help the robot butler "see" and interact with the station in a new way.
Each of the competitions will run for three weeks, and $10,000 in prize money will be awarded. As of this article's publication, 533 people have registered for the first competition, and 10 have submitted final algorithms.
"Do you think your code and your solutions can help advance humankind by advancing a humanoid kind?" a promotional video for the competition exclaims.
Contest participants in the two Robonaut competitions may eventually enable Robonaut 2 to better perform "repetitive, monotonous tasks" so that astronauts won't have to, according to a statement issued by TopCoder.
Robonaut vision showdown
The first contest involves writing an algorithm that will make Robonaut 2 locate and understand whether buttons and switches on a dashboard are turned off or on. NASA has provided images of the boards on the station, in a laboratory and in a simulator. Every setting has a different set of circumstances that the robot would need to work within.
"The successful algorithm application must work with each of several different camera systems and varying lighting conditions within each environment," TopCoder officials said.
The second competition builds on the first. Using the algorithm created during the first contest, competitors need to write more code that actually controls the motions of Robonaut 2's hands.
"The algorithm will need to 'see' an object, recognize it, and correctly operate and interact with it in the most efficient and safe manner possible," TopCoder officials wrote.
The $2.5 million Robonaut 2 weighs about 330 pounds (149 kilograms) and consists of a torso, arms and heads. From head to base, the robot is about 3 feet, 4 inches (1 meter) tall.
NASA launched Robonaut 2 to the International Space Station in 2011 during the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery.
NASA's space station contests
The Robonaut Challenge is the latest in a series of space station contests by NASA and TopCoder to foster innovation in space technology and spaceflight.
Together, NASA and TopCoder have conducted a $30,000 Longeron contest for software designed to help the space station maximize power from its solar arrays; a $24,000 Space Med Kit competition for a new algorithm for space medical monitoring; and the $13,000 Planetary Data System Idea Challenge (PDS) to a new way to search from NASA's more than 100 terabytes of space image and data from 30 years of planetary missions.
TopCoder has also completed competitions for an International Space Station Food Intake Tracker (ISS-FIT) iPad App, which is aimed at tracking dietary needs of astronauts, and a Voice Command Idea Generation project.
"We feel that our collective efforts on Robonaut 2, along with our successful Longeron, PDS and FIT programs have exposed the exciting prospect that game changing solutions can be created at reasonable cost by a new generation of engineers, programmers and technologists which is critical to innovation in the public sector and beyond," TopCoder President Rob Hughes said.
For more information on NASA and TopCoder's Robonaut Challenge visit the competition page on www.TopCoder.com
Europe's next ATV enters final preparations for its Ariane 5 launch
Space-Travel.com
Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to service the International Space Station is entering its final preparation phase for a planned Ariane 5 launch this spring from French Guiana on Arianespace's Flight VA213.
Named after Albert Einstein, the ATV is being processed in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation building, where it was transferred yesterday from the facility's S5C large preparation hall into its S5B high-bay area. Riding on an air cushion pallet, the ATV was efficiently moved within the S5 building using internal transfer corridors that are maintained to clean-room conditions.
Following its final preparations, ATV Albert Einstein will be moved to the Spaceport's launcher integration building, where the large spacecraft is to be integrated atop Ariane 5.
Weighing approximately 20 metric tons at launch, the series of Automated Transfer Vehicles are developed in a European program for resupply and servicing of the International Space Station, and they rendezvous with the orbital facility after being deployed by Ariane 5.
Produced by an Astrium-led industry team for the European Space Agency, this latest ATV will carry some 6,270 kg. of fuel, water, air, oxygen and dry cargo to the space station. Additionally, ATVs are commonly used to adjust the International Space Station's orbital altitude and make maneuvers to avoid collisions with space debris.
Flight VA213 signifies the 213th flight of an Ariane with this workhorse family of launchers since 1979. Arianespace is responsible for launching all ATVs, and has orbited three of them to date: ATV Edoardo Amaldi in 2012, ATV Johannes Kepler in 2011 and ATV Jules Verne in 2008.
"Commercial space exploration may be hit"
The Hindu
The recent cutbacks in fundings to the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA) announced by the United States government may cause delays in the programme to build a new spacecraft as well as projects related to commercial space flights, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams said here on Tuesday.
Ms. Williams also said she hoped that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA will collaborate closely in the future.
"Over the time that I have been at NASA, I've seen the relationship between India and the United States go in a much more positive direction, particularly when it comes to space," she said, adding that on her first visit to India she was not allowed to go to ISRO, but today scientists of both organisations communicate freely.
Speaking to school students at an interactive session, Ms. Williams said that when the end of the space shuttle programme was announced nearly two years ago, NASA scientists were looking forward to building a spacecraft with more updated technology – a project that is likely to be affected by the recent budget cuts.
Better aircraft
"The space shuttle has been almost retired now for almost two years. One of the reasons we did that is because we wanted to build the next spacecraft that is going to go further – back to the moon, maybe in the vicinity of an asteroid, to Mars. We want to build a bigger better spacecraft. That might get delayed a little bit," Ms. Williams said.
She also said NASA's collaborations with companies to build commercial vehicles that would take people to the International Space Station might also be affected.
"But all of those things are still in the works. It is not like we are putting a stop on any of these," she said in response to a question. "What will not be affected are the experiments planned for the International Space Station," she said.
"The first and foremost priority is maintaining what we have right now. We have agreements with all our international partners so the international space station is going to continue as it is. It has already been contracted out," she said, adding that the crew members, countries and experiments had already been planned.
Sunita Williams keen on Indo-US joint space missions
Ayan Pramanik - Hindu Business Line
Sunita Williams on Tuesday revived hopes of collaboration between the US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in space exploration missions.
On her visit to Kolkata at the invitation of the National Council of Science Museums, the Indian-American astronaut said that she would not only meet with students, but would also like to show them the opportunities in space research and missions.
"…I think there was a question about potentially going down to ISRO and I didn't have permission to go and visit people down there. But, now I know that people from ISRO and NASA are talking together. So, I see that that potential is growing and progressing," Williams told reporters when asked about the two organizations' plans to cooperate on the Moon and Mars missions in future.
She added that she noticed the relationship between India and the United States going in "a much more positive direction" when it came to space.
NASA is believed to have evinced interest in exploring future opportunities in working with ISRO following its participation in lunar mission Chandrayaan 1.
Experts feel that India's Mars Mission, which is scheduled to be launched in November this year, may prove to be promising for NASA to work with ISRO.
India's prospects
Emphasizing on the need for expediting the Indian space programmes, Williams said Indian students have lot of interest in space science.
"Obviously, there is capability in India to do lot more in space research. So far, (the country) is launching satellites and launching people. The kids here are interested in space because I have always got questions (like) how can we be part of international space station, how can we be astronauts (etc). The government should accelerate the space programmes," she said.
Shenzhou spacecraft arrives at Chinese launch base
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
The spacecraft that will carry three Chinese astronauts into orbit in June arrived at the country's remote desert launch base Sunday for final testing and flight preparations, state media reported.
Shipped in two cargo planes flying from Beijing to the Jiuquan space center in northwest China, the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft arrived at the launch base Sunday, according to a report by the state-run China Central Television.
Technicians at Jiuquan will assemble Shenzhou 10's orbital, descent and service modules, fuel the spacecraft, and place it on its Long March 2F rocket over the next few months.
CCTV reported the spacecraft will stay in orbit longer than any other Chinese human space mission to date. China's Shenzhou 9 mission last year lasted nearly 13 days.
Chinese officials said in late 2012 the Shenzhou 10 mission would last about 15 days, including 12 days docked to China's Tiangong 1 space laboratory module. Shenzhou 10 will be the fifth piloted mission in China's manned space program.
The mission's Long March 2F booster, built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, passed a pre-ship review March 19, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, an agency managed by the Chinese military.
If the schedule keeps with precedent set by previous Shenzhou missions, the two-stage Long March 2F launcher will be transported to Jiuquan, a military facility in the Gobi desert, via train later this month.
Chinese officials say the Shenzhou 10 mission will lift off with three astronauts between June and August. The timing of the spacecraft's shipment to the launch site could suggest the flight will occur at the beginning of the two-month window.
One of the Shenzhou 10 astronauts will be Wang Yaping, set to become China's second woman in space, according to a report by the Shanghai Daily. Wang is a 35-year-old pilot in the Chinese Air Force.
China has not disclosed the identities of Wang's crewmates.
The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft will complete manual and automated docking trials with the Tiangong 1 spacecraft, forming a 60-foot-long scientific complex for research experiments and engineering tests. Shenzhou 10 may also make a flyaround of Tiangong 1, an activity not attempted on the Shenzhou 9 flight.
The astronauts will also broadcast a science lecture to students from Tiangong 1, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Shenzhou 10 will be the last mission to visit Tiangong 1, which launched in September 2011 and has received an unmanned Shenzhou craft and one crewed vehicle.
China is constructing the Tiangong 2 spacecraft for launch in 2014. Tiangong 2 is a second-generation lab module designed to be visited by further astronaut crews for longer-duration missions.
A third Tiangong laboratory will launch around 2015 to support crews for 40-day stays and test regenerative life support systems. China plans to launch a multi-module complex the size of Russia's Mir space station by 2020.
NM governor signs space travel liability bill
Jeri Clausing - Associated Press
Gov. Susana Martinez on Tuesday signed into law liability-waiving legislation aimed at saving the state's nearly quarter-billion-dollar investment in a futuristic spaceport and retaining its anchor tenant, British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
The new law exempts spacecraft parts suppliers from liability lawsuits by passengers. Lawmakers had previously exempted spacecraft operators from liability, but some space companies began passing up the New Mexico spaceport in favor of states that had extended those protections to suppliers.
Martinez said in a statement after a signing ceremony at the nearly complete $209 million project in southern New Mexico that her administration was "not only reaffirming the major commitment New Mexicans have made to Spaceport America but we now have an even stronger opportunity to grow the number of commercial space jobs at the spaceport and across our state. This legislation will prevent lawsuit abuse and make it easier for businesses related to the space travel industry to thrive and succeed right here in New Mexico."
Virgin Galactic and Spaceport America officials have been fighting for years to get the legislation enacted, saying commercial space companies have passed over New Mexico in favor of states with more lenient liability exemptions.
Virgin Galactic had hinted last year it might abandon plans to launch its $200,000 per-person space flights from New Mexico if the bill failed again this year.
In January, Virgin began paying its $1 million-a-year rent. But it told the state it was doing so only under protest and without making a commitment to some of the other provisions of its long-term lease. Virgin Galactic President and CEO George Whitesides last month said the company and the state still had a "laundry list" of issues to resolve.
Virgin Galactic issued a statement Tuesday saying it "has been committed to the success of the Spaceport since it signed the original deal with the state."
The company also said "all stakeholders must now turn their attention to the future and to recruiting additional companies to the spaceport to fulfill its full potential and maximize new job growth."
Whitesides, in an interview last year, said it was "very concerning" that other space companies were not coming to the spaceport. Virgin Galactic, he said, signed up for a "healthy spaceport" with multiple businesses that could divide the costs.
Texas, Florida and Colorado are among several states developing spaceports. Most are revamping old airports or other facilities, but New Mexico's is unique because it is the first to be built from scratch.
Spaceport Executive Director Christine Anderson said Tuesday that she hoped the new law, as well as commercial tax breaks passed as part of a last-minute deal between the Legislature and Martinez, will strengthen her recruitment efforts.
"With this protection enacted, NMSA is now ready and able to get back to the business of building the commercial space industry here in New Mexico," Anderson said in a statement issued by Martinez's office.
Nitrogen Tire Inflation: Good Enough for NASA
Deborah Lockridge - Heavy Duty Trucking Magazine (truckinginfo.com)
On a family trip to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., last week, we were intrigued to see this display on the tires used on the now-retired space shuttle.
It says space shuttle tires (made by Michelin, by the way) don't explode in space because they're filled with nitrogen, which has more stability at different altitudes and temperatures than regular air.
As you may know, some fleets run their truck tires filled with nitrogen, as well. I haven't heard the argument about more pressure stability at different temperatures, but maybe that's one nitrogen proponents should look into.
As Equipment Editor Jim Park explained in this 2010 article in HDT, proponents say relatively pure nitrogen is a superior medium for inflating tires compared to air. It's a naturally occurring inert gas making up roughly 78% of the air we breathe – the same air we compress to inflate tires.
Why Nitrogen?
The key benefit to nitrogen tire inflation is that it slows the natural pressure loss in tires. Oxygen is able to permeate tire rubber, producing the expected 1% to 5% loss of inflation pressure over a month or so. Nitrogen permeates more slowly because nitrogen molecules are physically larger than oxygen molecules. Barring leaks, poorly seated beads, bad valves, etc., a tire inflated with nitrogen will retain a constant pressure longer than one filled with air, minimizing the headaches caused by under-inflation or mismatched inflation across sets of duals, improving fuel economy and extending tire life.
Plus, proponents say, nearly pure nitrogen is devoid of moisture, so you won't have water sloshing around in the tire, possibly corroding steel wheels, or freezing tire valves in winter.
For this article, Jim contacted three fleets who use nitrogen to inflate their tires. Two out of three said they are very pleased with tire performance. The third was equally pleased, but said they got the same results using an automatic tire inflation system.
Interestingly, one of the top stories last week from one of our sister magazines, Modern Tire Dealer, took a historic look at the topic of nitrogen tire inflation. Although MTD's stories tended to focus more on passenger and light truck tires, it's still pretty interesting.
Back in 1967, MTD's November cover featured Gulf Oil Co.'s attempt to test market nitrogen inflation at 41 of its stores in Houston, Texas. Its supplier, Big Three Industrial Gas & Equipment Co., charged $6.75 for a 300-cubic-foot bottle of nitrogen. Gulf Oil charged its customers $1 per tire. (Jerry White, chairman emeritus of White Tire Supply Inc. in Beaumont, Texas, says he pays $23 for a 230-cubic-foot cylinder of nitrogen.)
By August 2005, MTD reported that although public radio personalities Click and Clack talked about the advantages of nitrogen, they ultimately concluded that "none of these advantages are important to the average driver." Several dealers disagreed with that theory, noting that if you maintain air pressure all the time, the benefits of nitrogen diminish, but the average customer doesn't do that.
And of course we know a lot of truck drivers don't do it, either.
Have you tried using nitrogen in your tires?
How IMAX Pulled Spaceflight Down to Earth
Marina Koren - Smithsonian Magazine
Nearly 30 years ago, moviegoers got an unprecedented look into the lives of the space shuttle astronauts orbiting 280 miles above the Earth. And they witnessed it in extraordinary dimensions—on a five story-tall screen in booming surround sound.
The Dream Is Alive pulled back the curtain on NASA's Space Shuttle program, giving the public an intimate glimpse into the previously unfamiliar lives of its members. Narrated by Walter Cronkite, the IMAX classic showed astronauts in full garb, practicing how to move in weightless conditions, using a water tank on land. Once in space, the film revealed the crew's reactions to watching the world turn as the orbiter circled the Earth at 17,000 miles an hour. It followed the men and women as they worked, ate, exercised and even slept in zero gravity.
"Astronauts have said it's the next best thing to being there," says Valerie Neal, the space shuttle curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, of the film that was originally released in 1985. "The theater kind of dissolves and you feel like a part of the film. I had this sense that I was in space with them."
Shot by 14 NASA astronauts during three shuttle missions, the film includes footage of Discovery's 1984 launch and landing, as well as the deployment of several satellites from the spacecraft. It features sweeping panoramas of the Earth, space walks and risky satellite repairs. It puts the audience in the driver's seat with video filmed from the astronauts' points of view while training on land—viewers feel as if they are parachuting to the ground, or lurching away from the shuttle in high-speed emergency baskets.
The film premiered during an optimistic time for space exploration—1984 saw nine shuttle missions, seven more than in the program's first year in 1981. More than 100 missions would launch into space in the next three decades before the program folded in 2011. The Dream Is Alive represented the country's drive to make space transportation routine. It also introduced the public to a new era of American astronauts, Neal says, one that included women and individuals from more diverse backgrounds.
"That was something of a revelation, and I think it probably played a role in widespread acceptance that this is the way spaceflight should be," she says. "It shouldn't be just the cream of the crop of the most elite military jet test pilots, but also people who are scientists and engineers who could be our next door neighbors."
In the film viewers saw Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, hover in midair while working with her fellow Challenger crew members. Kathy Sullivan joins her, marking the first time two women flew together on a shuttle mission. We watch Sullivan become the first American woman to walk in space as she waves to the camera from outside the window, the white and blue of the Earth swirling behind her. We see Judith Resnik, the first Jewish woman in space, working in weightlessness. To date, more than 50 American women have become NASA astronauts.
The Dream Is Alive was still playing in theaters when Challenger exploded seconds after its 10th launch in January 1986, killing all seven astronauts onboard, including Resnik. The tragedy illuminated the very real dangers of space travel, an aspect of the shuttle program that The Dream hadn't explored. But Neal says the United States soon saw a surge of public support for the program, suggesting the golden age of American space exploration was not yet over.
"The American public had a sense that the space program was valuable and shouldn't be halted," she says.
Now, another generation of space enthusiasts can experience the zenith of the shuttle program, this time on an 86-by-62 foot silver screen. The Dream Is Alive is now showing in the Airbus IMAX Theater in the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Showtimes and ticket information is available here.
The film temporarily joins two of its stars at the Smithsonian. One of the cameras used in the film, which went on to document missions until 1998, arrived at the Institution last April and will soon be installed at the Air and Space Museum's "Moving Beyond Earth" exhibition. The black camera, which weighs about 80 pounds, shot film with over-sized, 70mm frames, providing more than eight times the area of traditional 35mm film. Such capacity lent to never-seen-before, wide-angle views of the planet's topography. The space shuttle Discovery landed at the museum shortly after. The famed spacecraft spent 365 days in space during its 27-year career. It flew 39 missions, several of which are chronicled in the film, before it was retired in 2011.
NASA Marketing Video to Run Before New 'Star Trek' Film
David Wescott - Bloomberg News
When Star Trek into Darkness hits screens this May, Trekkies won't have to wait for the movie to begin to see images of far-off galaxies, or to be inundated with melodramatic tales of man's conquering of the unknown. "We are the explorers," booms the voice of Optimus Prime in a NASA marketing video that will air before the movie in select theaters.
A remix of a longer NASA marketing video, the 30-second spot was sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and was crowdfunded on Indiegogo.
The original 2:36-minute video, produced at NASA's Johnson Space Center in 2012, is technically in the public domain. The AIA then stepped in to cut the 2:36-minute ad down and to coordinate the crowdfunding. With 30 days remaining, the project has raised around $45,000—more than the initial goal, but less than the $94,000 that the campaign says it needs to put the ad in at least one theater in every U.S. state. Perks for contributions include a black-and-white spacesuit photo, "authentic" space shuttle mission patches and lapel pins, and—for donors of $1,000 or more—a classic space program model.
"By donating to this campaign," the page says, "you're making a very powerful statement about the widespread enthusiasm that exists for space programs." Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Will Wheaton seemed to agree. "Let's get a PSA for NASA to run before Star Trek Into Darkness! Who's with me?!" he tweeted.
"Crowdfunding campaigns are becoming increasingly popular in the space community," says AIA Director of Space Systems Dan Hendrickson, pointing to a recent fundraising effort to recover Lunar Orbiter mission data. "The original idea behind this campaign wasn't a response to budget cuts," he insists. "This is a campaign to highlight to our students and young people that human spaceflight is alive and well in the United States in the post-Space Shuttle era." Citing "immediate and overwhelming financial support," Hendrickson considers the experiment a success.
Still, the new public-interest advertising model comes with challenges. Some financial backers are interested in more than patches and pins; they seek a say in the project they've made possible. "Focus on more than just spinoffs," suggests one commenter. "Focus on current projects," suggests another. A Reddit thread is agitating for the airing of a different video with a Carl Sagan voiceover.
"Thanks so much for all of this feedback," wrote Hendrickson in the comments section. "I'm reading all of it and taking [it] into consideration. … We're exploring lots of options."
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