This Week at NASA…

FINAL LAUNCH PREPS – JSC
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 31 Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin continued their preparations for their upcoming launch to the International Space Station. The crew conducted suited fit checks in the Soyuz capsule in which they’ll travel to the orbiting laboratory. The trio is scheduled to begin its journey May 15, local time.

FILE: SPACEX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex-40. Image Credit: NASA

SPACEX LATEST – KSC
SpaceX continues its preparations for the launch of Falcon 9 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Falcon 9 rocket will send aloft the unmanned Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, where it will be grappled remotely by the Expedition 31 crew. The SpaceX mission, now scheduled to launch on the morning of May 19, will be the first commercial venture to the ISS.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION – HQ
Administrator Charlie Bolden headed a delegation of senior NASA leadership that met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to discuss international cooperation in space.

Presented by Bolden with a montage of mementos flown on STS-135, the final space shuttle mission, Prime Minister Noda said he wants to excite young people about careers exploring space, noting his envy of five meeting attendees who’d actually done that.

NEW DAWN FINDINGS – HQ
“Which is also telling us something fundamental…”

The first global analysis by the Dawn spacecraft of Vesta has uncovered some interesting new findings about the giant asteroid.

Carol Raymond, DAWN Principal Investigator: “We now know that Vesta is the only intact layered planetary building block surviving from the very earliest days of the solar system. Vesta exhibits many characteristics that define it more as a body that is transitional between asteroids and planets than being more like your garden variety asteroid. Vesta is special because it survived the intense collisional environment of the main asteroid belt for billions of years allowing us to interrogate a key witness to the events at the very beginning of the solar system.”

Dawn has also confirmed that a certain class of meteorites found here on Earth originally came from Vesta, making Dawn the first “reverse” sample return mission in space exploration history.

SOLAR ACTIVITY – GSFC
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured these photos of a powerfully active region of the Sun called 1476 that’s more than 60,000 miles across. This so-called Monster sunspot has released multiple large flares. Sunspots occur where the magnetic field lines emerge from the inside of the Sun to form expanding loops above its surface. They appear dark because temperatures are considerably lower than in surrounding areas. SDO is the first launched mission in NASA’s Living With a Star Program designed to understand the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth.

INNOVATION SUMMIT – HQ
“Save at the innovative process and government’s role in it.”

“That’s a great way to frame the problem because I think that’s exactly the question.”

NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck offered his take on the role of research and development in revitalizing the nation’s economic future in a special innovation summit held at Washington’s Reagan National Airport. Sponsored by the Atlantic Monthly magazine, Peck’s panel discussed how investment in American R&D and manufacturing benefits our economy.

Mason Peck, NASA Chief Technologist: “When you pose difficult problems such as sending humans to Mars, which is on NASA’s plate right now – when you pose those kinds of problems and you put American industry to work and academia to work on those problems, you get innovation.”

MSL FIELD TRIP – JPL
Researchers with the Mars Science Laboratory Project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently took science journalists on a two-day field trip and workshop to California’s Mojave Desert. The journalists were shown sedimentary rock exposures that, like those the Curiosity rover will study on Mars, reveal to scientists the history of their environment.

John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory Principal Investigator: The hard part is how to extract the information in the rock, so that’s what everybody is learning to do here, is how to make measurements. We measure the thickness of the beds, we measure the grain size, we look at the mineralogy as best as we can understand it and we record all of this information and then from that, it will eventually allow us to reconstruct what kind of environment was here.”

“Liftoff of the Atlas V with Curiosity – seeking clues to the planetary puzzle about life on Mars.”

The MSL spacecraft, carrying Curiosity, was launched Nov. 26, 2011 and is scheduled for an August 2012 landing on Mars at a site known as Gale Crater.

ORION CAPSULE IN VIRGINIA – LARC
A full-scale test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft has arrived at the Virginia Air & Space Center in Hampton, where it will be on display through the summer. The 18-thousand pound test vehicle, built at the nearby Langley Research Center, was used in the successful Pad Abort 1test of Orion’s launch abort system in May 2010.

NASA’s first space-bound Orion capsule will undergo an un-crewed Exploration Flight Test-1 planned for 2014. EFT-1 will see Orion travel farther into space than any human-rated spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years.

SUTTER’S MILL REVISITED – ARC (CP) Jesse Carpenter Reporting
Recently, a team of scientists and volunteers from NASA Ames Research Center searched for debris left in the wake of a large meteor that plummeted into Northern California on April 22, 2012.

To expedite their search, researchers enlisted the services of an airship called “Eureka” for an airborne survey of the debris field. During a five hour flight, they searched a 300-square mile area. They used a sophisticated video camera system that is commonly used to cover sporting events.

Researcher were also conducting ground surveys to look for fragments. Within days, a NASA team was able to find and identify a fragment as a type of meteorite known as a carbonaceous chondrite.

Peter Jenniskens, Meteor Astronomer, SETI Institute: “It is a really special meteorite because this particular one contains the goodies that scientists are interested in – the amino acids – all of the compounds that could have made life possible on our planet.”

Because meteorite fragments will quickly degrade when exposed to the elements, the rush to find them as soon as possible began. One of the larger fragments was discovered in the de Hass family pasture.

Merv de Haas, Property Owner / Meteorite Donor: “I’m glad you found it there and I’m glad it’s a piece that’s going to be valuable to science and I’m looking forward to hearing some of the results from it.”

Along with the de Haas fragment, over 20 specimens have been recovered. Some of the largest are now undergoing tests in a lab at Ames Research Center. This discovery could provide clues as to what our planet may have been made from and how life could have begun on Earth.

DRYDEN SOCIAL – DFRC (CP)
About 50 followers of NASA’s social media websites got an up-close-and-personal, behind-the-scenes look at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center during a “NASA Social” on May 4. The social media visitors, along with several news media representatives, were briefed on what Dryden is and does by center management, project engineers and technicians.

“We’re responsible for that collision avoidance stewardship throughout aviation.”

They also toured various facilities, viewed research and support aircraft, had their photos taken in the cockpit of a NASA F/A-18, and were even regaled by a low-level flyover…

and a sonic boom…

during the day-long event. The NASA Social attendees responded by posting hundreds of “tweets” and comments about their experience on their Twitter, Facebook and Google-Plus accounts.

FMA LIVE! – MSFC
National Take Our Children to Work Day was upbeat and full of energy for students and children of Marshall Space Flight Center employees.

“Alright now as you can see filling the rocket with air pressure – and that’s the action – all of the pressure builds (launch sound) – there it goes! Liftoff is the reaction.”

Performers in the educational show FMA Live! brought Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion to life for the potential future scientists and engineers! FMA Live! — created by NASA and Honeywell International — is an award-winning, traveling hip-hop science program designed to inspire elementary and middle school students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and math by using interactive demonstrations in an entertaining way.

ASIAN-PACIFIC HERITAGE MONTH PROFILE – ALLEN CHEN (JPL)
Allen Chen, Lead-Entry, Descent and Landing Operations, Mars Science Laboratory: “I’m Allen Chen; I’m the operations lead on the Entry, Descent and Landing team for the Mars Science Laboratory project.

“Right now I’m coordinating our preparations for entry, descent and landing. We land in August, a few months from now and we’re still hurrying to get all our stuff ready to make sure that we’re ready to take the plunge. I’ll be telling people exactly what the spacecraft is doing, you know roughly where it is and what it’s telling us is going on during EDL.

“My parents always displayed an example that education never stops. You always want to learn as much as you can and it doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom. My parents added new skills while I was still in high school and you know they got other degrees and a lot of the times it was just for fun.

“This is a type of mission and type of project and type of thing that we do here that no one person can do by themselves. So you got to work with a lot people and learning how to work with those people is just as important as learning those basics in science and math. That’s kind of the starting point but to grow beyond that you need to be able to work with people.

“There’s a kind of exploration that we do here that can’t be done anywhere else. There’s certainly other places where you’re doing things to make money or you’re doing things related to exploration, but here the entire point of the place is about exploration. So I think I finally came to that realization sometime in late high school or early college that this is the type of place I want to be at.”

NASA ANNIVERSARY: STS-84 LAUNCH – May 15, 1997
Fifteen years ago, on May 15, 1997, Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center on STS-84. The mission was the sixth shuttle docking to the Russian Mir space station, exchanging astronaut Mike Foale for U.S. crew member Jerry Linenger, who’d spent 123 days there. Rounding out the Atlantis crew were commander Charlie Precourt, a 2012 inductee into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, Pilot Eileen Collins and Mission Specialists Carlos Noriega, Ed Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency and Elena Kondakova of Russia.

NASA ANNIVERSARY: STS-134, FINAL LAUNCH OF ENDEAVOUR – May 16, 2011
And, May 16 marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of STS-134 – the final spaceflight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. NASA’s youngest orbiter lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 8:56 a.m. EDT to the International Space Station, carrying with it the six-person crew of Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Greg Johnson, and Mission Specialists Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Roberto Vittori.

The 14-day mission delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), the Express Logistics Carrier-3, a high-pressure gas tank and spare parts for other station hardware. STS-134 was the 36th, and next-to-last shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

And that’s This Week @ NASA!

The IXV lifting body is about 5 m long, 2.2 m wide and 1.5 m high. Its hypersonic lift-to-drag ratio of 0.7 guarantees the required aerodynamic performance. Image Credit: ESA

The launch of ESA’s IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle on Europe’s new Vega rocket is now in detailed planning, a major step towards the craft’s flight in 2014.

Launched into a suborbital trajectory from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, IXV will return to Earth as if from a low-orbit mission, to test and qualify new critical technologies for future reentry vehicles.
It will attain an altitude of around 450 km, allowing it to reach a velocity of 7.5 km/s on entering the atmosphere. It will collect a large amount of data during its hypersonic and supersonic flight, while it is being controlled by thrusters and aerodynamic flaps.

IXV will then descend by parachute and land in the Pacific Ocean to await recovery and analysis.

ESA and the Arianespace launch provider signed a contract on 14 December to study the launch on Vega, as part of the VERTA – Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment – programme.

The rocket’s qualification flight planned for liftoff at the end of January will pave the way for the next five VERTA missions that will demonstrate the system’s flexibility.

At a planned rate of two launches per year, the programme will allow the smooth introduction of Vega for commercial exploitation.

Following development of critical technologies and completion of the design, the vehicle’s manufacturing, assembly, integration and qualification is now under way for a flight window between January and September 2014.

Procurement of the ground network has begun, including the mission control centre, ground station telemetry kits, transportable antennas and communication network.

About Vega

Vega is Europe’s new, small launcher. Its performance perfectly complements that of the heavy Ariane 5 and medium Soyuz rockets launched from French Guiana.

It is designed to cope with a wide range of missions and payload configurations in order to respond to different market opportunities and provide great flexibility. In particular, it offers configurations able to handle payloads ranging from a single satellite up to one main satellite plus six microsatellites.

Vega is compatible with payload masses ranging from 300 kg to 2500 kg, depending on the type and altitude of the orbit required by the customers. The benchmark is for 1500 kg into a 700 km-altitude polar orbit.

FILE: An Atlas V rocket lifts off. Image Credit: USAF

HOUSTON, TX — The Boeing Company today announced it has selected the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket to launch the Boeing Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft from Florida’s Space Coast.

“This selection marks a major step forward in Boeing’s efforts to provide NASA with a proven launch capability as part of our complete commercial crew transportation service,” said John Elbon, vice president and program manager of Commercial Crew Programs and the source selection official for Boeing.

If NASA selects Boeing for a development contract with sufficient funding, ULA will provide launch services for an autonomous orbital flight, a transonic autonomous abort test launch, and a crewed launch, all in 2015.

The addition of ULA to the Boeing team enables the start of detailed design work on an integrated system for launch and spacecraft operations. The team also will refine launch abort operations that will meet NASA’s stringent human rating requirements to safely transport crew and cargo to the International Space Station. Boeing conducted a best-value competition among U.S. launch service providers prior to selecting the Atlas V.

Artist's concept of Boeing's CST-100 crew capsule approaching the International Space Station. Image Credit: Boeing

“We are pleased Boeing selected the Atlas V rocket and believe it is the right vehicle to help usher in the new commercial era in human spaceflight,” said George Sowers, ULA vice president of Business Development. “The Atlas V is a cost-effective, reliable vehicle and ULA stands ready to support Boeing’s commercial human spaceflight program.”

Boeing plans to begin wind tunnel testing of the Atlas V and the CST-100 this year and will use the results to complete a preliminary design review of the integrated system in 2012 under the second round of its Commercial Crew Development Space Act Agreement with NASA.

The Commercial Crew program consists of developing, manufacturing, testing and evaluating, and demonstrating the CST-100 spacecraft, launch vehicle and ground/mission operations – all part of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Transportation System – for NASA’s new Commercial Crew human spaceflight program that will provide access to the International Space Station.

The CST-100 is a reusable, capsule-shaped spacecraft that includes a crew module and a service module. It relies on proven, affordable materials and subsystem technologies that can transport up to seven people, or a combination of people and cargo.

Hydro Impact Basin at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Image Credit: NASA

HAMPTON, Va. — As NASA closes the chapter on the Space Shuttle Program, a new era of exploration vehicles is beginning to take off.

Testing began this month at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., in the new Hydro Impact Basin to certify the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) for water landings. The Orion MPCV will carry astronauts into space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and ensure safe re-entry and landing.

Engineers dropped a 22,000-pound MPCV mockup into the basin. The test item is similar in size and shape to MPCV, but is more rigid so it can withstand multiple drops. Each test has a different drop velocity to represent the MPCV’s possible entry conditions during water landings.

The last of three drop tests to verify the new facility is scheduled for the end of this month.

Testing will resume in September with a slightly modified test article that is more representative of the actual MPCV.

The new Hydro Impact Basin is 115 long, 90 feet wide and 20 feet deep. It is located at the west end of Langley’s historic Landing and Impact Research Facility, or Gantry, where Apollo astronauts trained for moon walks.

This oblique, southward-looking view of Gale crater shows the landing site and the mound of layered rocks that NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will investigate. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/UA

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s next Mars rover will land at the foot of a layered mountain inside the planet’s Gale Crater.

The car-sized Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year and land in August 2012. The target crater spans 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter and holds a mountain rising higher from the crater floor than Mount Rainier rises above Seattle. Gale is about the combined area of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Layering in the mound suggests it is the surviving remnant of an extensive sequence of deposits. The crater is named for Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale.

“Mars is firmly in our sights,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Curiosity not only will return a wealth of important science data, but it will serve as a precursor mission for human exploration to the Red Planet.”

During a prime mission lasting one Martian year — nearly two Earth years — researchers will use the rover’s tools to study whether the landing region had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed.

“Scientists identified Gale as their top choice to pursue the ambitious goals of this new rover mission,” said Jim Green, director for the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The site offers a visually dramatic landscape and also great potential for significant science findings.”

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Mars Science Laboratory aka "Curiosity," as it is being lowered by the mission's rocket-powered descent stage during landing. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In 2006, more than 100 scientists began to consider about 30 potential landing sites during worldwide workshops. Four candidates were selected in 2008. An abundance of targeted images enabled thorough analysis of the safety concerns and scientific attractions of each site. A team of senior NASA science officials then conducted a detailed review and unanimously agreed to move forward with the MSL Science Team’s recommendation. The team is comprised of a host of principal and co-investigators on the project.

Curiosity is about twice as long and more than five times as heavy as any previous Mars rover. Its 10 science instruments include two for ingesting and analyzing samples of powdered rock that the rover’s robotic arm collects. A radioisotope power source will provide heat and electric power to the rover. A rocket-powered sky crane suspending Curiosity on tethers will lower the rover directly to the Martian surface.

The portion of the crater where Curiosity will land has an alluvial fan likely formed by water-carried sediments. The layers at the base of the mountain contain clays and sulfates, both known to form in water.

“One fascination with Gale is that it’s a huge crater sitting in a very low-elevation position on Mars, and we all know that water runs downhill,” said John Grotzinger, the mission’s project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. “In terms of the total vertical profile exposed and the low elevation, Gale offers attractions similar to Mars’ famous Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system.”

Curiosity will go beyond the “follow-the-water” strategy of recent Mars exploration. The rover’s science payload can identify other ingredients of life, such as the carbon-based building blocks of biology called organic compounds. Long-term preservation of organic compounds requires special conditions. Certain minerals, including some Curiosity may find in the clay and sulfate-rich layers near the bottom of Gale’s mountain, are good at latching onto organic compounds and protecting them from oxidation.

“Gale gives us attractive possibilities for finding organics, but that is still a long shot,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at agency headquarters. “What adds to Gale’s appeal is that, organics or not, the site holds a diversity of features and layers for investigating changing environmental conditions, some of which could inform a broader understanding of habitability on ancient Mars.”

The rover and other spacecraft components are being assembled and are undergoing final testing. The mission is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of Caltech.

This artist's concept illustrates a quasar, or feeding black hole, similar to APM 08279+5255, where astronomers discovered huge amounts of water vapor. Gas and dust likely form a torus around the central black hole, with clouds of charged gas above and below. Image credit: NASA/ESA

Two teams of astronomers have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe. The water, equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world’s ocean, surrounds a huge, feeding black hole, called a quasar, more than 12 billion light-years away.

“The environment around this quasar is very unique in that it’s producing this huge mass of water,” said Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “It’s another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times.” Bradford leads one of the teams that made the discovery. His team’s research is partially funded by NASA and appears in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

A quasar is powered by an enormous black hole that steadily consumes a surrounding disk of gas and dust. As it eats, the quasar spews out huge amounts of energy. Both groups of astronomers studied a particular quasar called APM 08279+5255, which harbors a black hole 20 billion times more massive than the sun and produces as much energy as a thousand trillion suns.

Astronomers expected water vapor to be present even in the early, distant universe, but had not detected it this far away before. There’s water vapor in the Milky Way, although the total amount is 4,000 times less than in the quasar, because most of the Milky Way’s water is frozen in ice.

Water vapor is an important trace gas that reveals the nature of the quasar. In this particular quasar, the water vapor is distributed around the black hole in a gaseous region spanning hundreds of light-years in size (a light-year is about six trillion miles). Its presence indicates that the quasar is bathing the gas in X-rays and infrared radiation, and that the gas is unusually warm and dense by astronomical standards. Although the gas is at a chilly minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 53 degrees Celsius) and is 300 trillion times less dense than Earth’s atmosphere, it’s still five times hotter and 10 to 100 times denser than what’s typical in galaxies like the Milky Way.

Measurements of the water vapor and of other molecules, such as carbon monoxide, suggest there is enough gas to feed the black hole until it grows to about six times its size. Whether this will happen is not clear, the astronomers say, since some of the gas may end up condensing into stars or might be ejected from the quasar.

Bradford’s team made their observations starting in 2008, using an instrument called “Z-Spec” at the California Institute of Technology’s Submillimeter Observatory, a 33-foot (10-meter) telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Follow-up observations were made with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA), an array of radio dishes in the Inyo Mountains of Southern California.

The second group, led by Dariusz Lis, senior research associate in physics at Caltech and deputy director of the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, used the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps to find water. In 2010, Lis’s team serendipitously detected water in APM 8279+5255, observing one spectral signature. Bradford’s team was able to get more information about the water, including its enormous mass, because they detected several spectral signatures of the water.

Other authors on the Bradford paper, “The water vapor spectrum of APM 08279+5255,” include Hien Nguyen, Jamie Bock, Jonas Zmuidzinas and Bret Naylor of JPL; Alberto Bolatto of the University of Maryland, College Park; Phillip Maloney, Jason Glenn and Julia Kamenetzky of the University of Colorado, Boulder; James Aguirre, Roxana Lupu and Kimberly Scott of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Hideo Matsuhara of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Japan; and Eric Murphy of the Carnegie Institute of Science, Pasadena.

Funding for Z-Spec was provided by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Research Corporation and the partner institutions.

Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

The runway of the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) is marked to show where the main landing gear wheels stopped for the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) shortly after it landed early Thursday morning, July 21, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Overall, Atlantis spent 307 days in space and traveled nearly 126 million miles during its 33 flights. Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, launched on its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985. Image Credit: NASA

Space Shuttle Atlantis completed its 33rd and final mission landing on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility on the morning of Thursday, July 21, 2011. It was the 20th night landing at KSC (78 total) and 26th night landing in the history of the Space Shuttle Program. Some other interesting facts about Atlantis are as follows:

• 135th Space Shuttle mission
• 33rd Flight of Atlantis (125,935,769 statute miles)
• 307 Total days Atlantis has spent in space on 33 missions
• 37th Shuttle / Station assembly mission
• 11:29 a.m. EDT Launched Monday, May 16 (100th day launch out of 135 missions)
• 5:57 a.m. EDT Landed Thursday, July 21 (20th night KSC landing; 26 night landings total)
• 12 Days/18:27:56 Mission Elapsed Time (MET) – main gear touchdown (days/hours:minutes:seconds)
• 5,284,862 Statute miles traveled (Total Mileage for Atlantis – 125,935,769; Total Mileage for Shuttle – 542,398,878)
• 200 Orbits (4,848 total on 33 missions)
• 11:07 a.m. EDT Docked to the International Space Station Sun July 10 (MET 1/23:38)
• 2:28 a.m. EDTUndocking of a shuttle from the ISS for the last time (MET 10/14:59)
• 08/15:21 Docked duration (assembly record is STS-123 at 11/20:36)
• 12:47 p.m. EDT Hatches opened between Atlantis and the ISS Sun, July 10 (MET 2/01:18)
• 10:28 a.m. EDT Hatches are closed Monday, July 18 (MET 9/22:59)
• 7/21:41 Total hatch open time between Atlantis & ISS (“Joint Operations”)
• 78th Landing at KSC (20th night – 59th day) & 133rd overall (54 EDW & 1 WSSH)
• 202 Different “visitors” to the space station representing 15 countries
• 852 Space Shuttle seats filled
• 355 Individuals flown on the Space Shuttle
• 30,576 Pounds of hardware to station – includes MPLM, LMC, RRM & Picosat
• 28,100 Pounds of hardware from station – includes MPLM, LMC, & PM
• 25,478 “Raffaello” Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (launch weight)
• 21, 920 “Raffaello” Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (return weight)
• 9,403 “Raffaello” Multi-Purpose Logistics Module cargo (launch weight)
• 5,861 “Raffaello” Multi-Purpose Logistics Module cargo (return weight)
• 2,977 Lightweight Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structure Carrier (up mass)
• 1,409 Lightweight Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structure Carrier (down mass)
• 550 Robotic Refueling Mission payload mass
• 8 PicoSat mass (final deploy from a shuttle – the 180th)
• 65 Pounds of Oxygen transferred to ISS (stack repress)
• 111 Pounds of Nitrogen transferred to ISS (stack repress)
• 1,652 Pounds of water transferred to ISS
• 1,283 Pounds of middeck items delivered to ISS aboard Atlantis
• 723 Pounds of middeck items returned from ISS aboard Atlantis
• 901,745 Mass in space of the International Space Station (in pounds)
• 100 Percentage complete of ISS assembly (pressurized volume)
• 1 Spacewalks completed totaling 6 hrs,31 min (E28’s Mike Fossum/Ron Garan)
• 1,009:09 Hours & minutes of EVA time devoted to ISS assembly (~ 42 days of EVA time)
• 160 Number of EVAs devoted to ISS assembly
• 249 Total number of EVAs performed by U.S. astronauts

Landing Times: Mission Elapsed Time (EDT)
Main Gear: 12/18:27:56 (5:57:00 a.m.)
Nose Gear: 12/18:28:16 (5:57:20 a.m.)
Wheels Stop: 12/18:28:50 (5:57:54 a.m.)

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) touches down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Image Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down on the Shuttle Landing Facility’s Runway 15 at 5:57 a.m. EDT on July 21. After 200 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,284,862 miles, the landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida brought to a close 30 years of space shuttle flights.

“Although we got to take the ride,” said Commander Chris Ferguson on behalf of his crew, ” we sure hope that everybody who has ever worked on, or touched, or looked at, or envied or admired a space shuttle was able to take just a little part of the journey with us.”

The STS-135 crew consisted of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.

“I really want to thank the space shuttle team and the Space Shuttle Program for just a tremendous effort today and throughout the entire history of the program. We gave them a tremendous challenge to fly and execute these missions and to finish strong and I can tell you today that the team accomplished every one of those objectives,” said Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier as he addressed the media at the post-landing news conference. “I’d also like to thank the nation for allowing us to have these thirty years to go use the shuttle system.”

“It is great to have Atlantis safely home after a tremendously successful mission — and home to stay,” said Bob Cabana, Kennedy Space Center director, referencing Atlantis’ retirement at Kennedy’s Visitor Complex.

“I’m unbelievably proud to be here representing the Space Shuttle Program and the thousands of people across the country who do the work,” said Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager. “Hearing the sonic booms as Atlantis came home for the last time really drove it home to me that this has been a heck of a program.”

“The workers out here and across the country in the Space Shuttle Program have dedicated their lives, their hearts and their souls to this program, and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director at Kennedy.

A welcome home ceremony for the astronauts will be held Friday, July 22, in Houston. The public is invited to attend the 4 p.m. CDT event at NASA’s Hangar 990 at Ellington Field. Gates to Ellington Field will open at 3:30 p.m. The ceremony will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

On the 13-day mission, the STS-135 crew delivered to the International Space Station more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, spare equipment and other supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module, including 2,677 pounds of food. The supplies will sustain space station operations for the next year. The 21-foot long, 15-foot diameter Raffaello brought back nearly 5,700 pounds of unneeded materials from the station.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today called for immediate action by the Administration and the Office of Management and Budget on approval of NASA’s heavy lift vehicle. The Senator’s statement follows:

“Next week, the Space Shuttle Atlantis and her crew will return to earth, bringing an end to the final mission of the space shuttle program and an end to America’s ability to launch humans into space.

“Last year, Congress passed, and the President signed, the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, which directed NASA to develop a new heavy lift launch capability to take astronauts out beyond Earth’s orbit in a new multi-purpose crew vehicle.

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

“NASA has spent the past eight months re-studying options and variations of launch vehicles that have been looked at for years. They finally announced the plan to develop the crew vehicle, using the Orion design, in May. We now have it confirmed that a final technical design decision on the heavy lift vehicle was made three weeks ago, on June 20th. Although the studies leading to that design decision included independent cost estimates, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has deferred endorsing that technical decision until it can see another independent cost analysis for the project.

“No one questions the need to ensure the best understanding of program costs. We do that every year on an ongoing basis with every major NASA program, as we set spending levels in our annual budget. There is simply no need to defer announcing the vehicle design decision while awaiting yet another cost review.

“To do so only increases the real human cost that NASA employees and contractors are experiencing in the face of continued uncertainty about the future. Without a decision we will continue to lose skilled workers that we need to build the shuttle replacements. Besides the toll this will take on workers and their families, who have contributed so much to science, our national security, and the economy, it will be difficult and more costly to replace this invaluable human capital.

“We have the information to make a decision now, and I call on the Administration and OMB to immediately make public and approve NASA’s technical design decision on the heavy lift vehicle.”

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off for the final time. Image Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank jettisoned, Space Shuttle Atlantis is now in orbit.

Atlantis and its four astronauts have left Earth for the final space shuttle mission, which will cap off an amazing 30-year program of exploration, which launched great observatories, built an International Space Station, and taught us more about how humans can live and work in space.

Atlantis left Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:29 a.m. EDT. There was a slight delay at T-31 seconds while retraction of the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm, or “Beanie Cap,” was verified. Atlantis will dock with the space station on Sunday.

Atlantis is carrying the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station.

The mission is also flying a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and return a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems.

Cluster satellites study the effects of solar wind. Artist's impression. Image Credit: ESA

EUROPE – Using ingenuity and an unorthodox ‘dirty hack’, ESA was able to successfully recover the four-satellite Cluster mission from a near loss. The drama began in March, when a crucial science package stopped responding to commands – one of a mission controller’s worst fears.

Since a pair of spectacular dual launches in 2000, the four Cluster satellites have been orbiting Earth in tightly controlled formation. Each of the 550 kg satellites carries an identical payload to investigate Earth’s space environment and its interaction with the solar wind – the stream of charged particles pouring out from the Sun.

Among each satellite’s 11 instruments, five comprise the Wave Experiment Consortium (WEC), which makes important measurements of electrical and magnetic fields. All four sensors must work together to make carefully orchestrated observations – the loss of any one could seriously affect the unique ‘four-satellite science’ delivered by the mission.

On 5 March, the WEC package on Cluster’s number 3 satellite, Samba, failed to switch on. Ground controllers at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany, immediately triggered a series of standard recovery procedures, none of which succeeded.

Even worse, no status information could be coaxed out of the instruments.

“With no status data and no response from the instrument, we suspected either that the device’s five power switches were locked closed or a failure caused by an electrical short circuit, one of the most dangerous faults on any satellite,” said ESA’s Juergen Volpp, Cluster operations manager.

Over the next several weeks, working closely with the satellites’ builder, the WEC scientists and manufacturer, and other ESA teams, the Cluster control team diagnosed the problem, eventually making use of some onboard software that had been dormant since just after launch over 10 years ago.

The result ruled out a short circuit and pointed an accusing finger at the five power switches being locked in the ‘closed’ position.

Tests in 1995 had simulated what might happen if three of the five switches locked close, but no one ever considered how to recover from all five being locked – such a situation had not been deemed possible.

Armed with this information and a great deal of ingenuity, the team painstakingly designed a recovery procedure and tested it on one of Samba’s functioning sister satellites.

“The solution was based on a ‘dirty hack’ – jargon referring to any non-standard procedure – but we really had no other option,” said Juergen.

Finally, on 1 June, in a very tense mission control room, a series of commands was radioed up. To immense relief, these flipped the power switches to ‘on’ and the recalcitrant WEC came back to life.

“When unexpected trouble occurs, you really want to have an experienced and talented team on hand to solve the problem.”

Cluster has since returned to normal operation and measures are being taken to prevent this failure from happening again.

“When everything goes as planned, flying a mission can be routine,” said ESA’s Manfred Warhaut, Head of Mission Operations. “But when unexpected trouble occurs, and there’s nothing in the manuals, you really want to have an experienced and talented team on hand to solve the problem.”

FILE: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover used its panoramic camera to record this view of the rim of a crater about 65 kilometers (40 miles) in the distance, on the southwestern horizon. This crater, Bopolu, is about 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter.

WASHINGTON — NASA scientists are seeing new evidence that suggests traces of water on Mars are under a thin varnish of iron oxide, or rust, similar to conditions found on desert rocks in California’s Mojave Desert.

Mars could be spotted with many more patches of carbonates than originally suspected. Carbonates are minerals that form readily in large bodies of water and can point to a planet’s wet history. Although only a few small outcrops of carbonates have been detected on Mars, scientists believe many more examples are blocked from view by the rust. The findings appear in the Friday July 1, online edition of the International Journal of Astrobiology.

“The plausibility of life on Mars depends on whether liquid water dotted its landscape for thousands or millions of years,” said Janice Bishop, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center at the SETI Institute at Moffett Field, Calif., and the paper’s lead author. “It’s possible that an important clue, the presence of carbonates, has largely escaped the notice of investigators trying to learn if liquid water once pooled on the Red Planet.”

Scientists conduct field experiments in desert regions because the extremely dry conditions are similar to Mars. Researchers realized the importance of the varnish earlier this year when Bishop and Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at Ames investigated carbonate rocks coated with iron oxides collected in a location called Little Red Hill in the Mojave Desert.

“When we examined the carbonate rocks in the lab, it became evident that an iron oxide skin may be hindering the search for clues to the Red Planet’s hydrological history,” McKay said. “We found that the varnish both altered and partially masked the spectral signature of the carbonates.”

McKay also found dehydration-resistant blue-green algae under the rock varnish. Scientists believe the varnish may have extended temporarily the time that Mars was habitable, as the planet’s surface slowly dried up.

“The organisms in the Mojave Desert are protected from deadly ultraviolet light by the iron oxide coating,” McKay said. “This survival mechanism might have played a role if Mars once had life on the surface.”

In addition to being used to help characterize Mars’ water history, carbonate rocks also could be a good place to look for the signatures of early life on the Red Planet. Every mineral is made up of atoms that vibrate at specific frequencies to produce a unique fingerprint that allows scientists to accurately identify its composition.

Research data were similar to observations provided by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft, as it orbited an ancient region of Mars called Nili Fossae. The area revealed the strongest carbonate signature ever found. Although MRO recently detected small patches of carbonates, approximately 200-500 feet wide, on the Martian surface, the Mojave study suggests more patches may have been overlooked because their spectral signature could have been changed by the pervasive varnish.

“To better determine the extent of carbonate deposits on Mars, and by inference the ancient abundance of liquid water, we need to investigate the spectral properties of carbonates mixed with other minerals,” Bishop said.

The varnish is so widespread that NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, used a motorized grinding tool to remove the rust-like overcoat on rocks before other instruments could inspect them. In 2010, scientists using data collected by Spirit also identified a small carbonate outcrop at a crater called Gusev. NASA’s newest and most capable rover, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity is schedule to launch in November. It will use tools to study whether the Mars had environmental conditions favorable for supporting microbial life and favorable for preserving clues about whether life existed.

Launched in 2006, MRO observes Mars’ surface, subsurface and atmosphere in unprecedented detail. Opportunity and Spirit completed their three-month prime missions on Mars in April 2004, but continued to collect data. NASA ended operations for Spirit this year to focus only on Opportunity activities. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages MRO, Mars rovers and Curiosity for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Three frames from the series of 104 taken by Mars Express during the Phobos–Jupiter conjunction on 1 June 2011. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Earlier this month, ESA’s Mars Express performed a special manoeuvre to observe an unusual alignment of Jupiter and the martian moon Phobos.

At the moment when Mars Express, Phobos, and Jupiter aligned on 1 June 2011, there was a distance of 11 389 km between the spacecraft and Phobos, and a further 529 million km to Jupiter.

The High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express was kept fixed on Jupiter for the conjunction, ensuring that the planet remained static in the frame. The operation returned a total of 104 images over a period of 68 seconds, all of them taken using the camera’s super-resolution channel.

By knowing the exact moment when Jupiter passed behind Phobos, the observation will help to verify and even improve our knowledge of the orbital position of the martian moon.

The images shown here were processed at the Department of Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing at the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Freie Universität Berlin.

The Orion/Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle ground test article. Image Credit: NASA

NASA is inviting the public to view a test version of the agency’s next spacecraft that will carry humans into deep space.

The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which NASA announced last month would be the agency’s deep space crew module based on the original work on the Orion capsule, will make three stops as it travels by truck from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The planned stops are June 15-16 at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz.; June 19-20 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas; and June 24-25 at the Tallahassee Challenger Learning Center in Florida. The module also will be on display June 29-July 4 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

During a test flight in New Mexico last year, a new launch abort system propelled the spacecraft off the launch pad to a speed of almost 445 mph in three seconds. The spacecraft then parachuted to the desert floor.

The test module eventually will be moved to Kennedy’s Operations and Checkout Facility for further study. The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle’s propulsion, life support, thermal protection and avionics systems ultimately will enable astronauts to travel for extended deep space missions and return safely to Earth.

The ESA's lunar lander mission aims to land in the mountainous and heavily cratered terrain of the lunar south pole, possibly in 2018. Image Credit: ESA.

Four decades after the first Moon landing, our only natural satellite remains a fascinating enigma. Specialists from Europe and the US have been looking at ESA’s proposed Lunar Lander mission to find out how to seek water and other volatile resources.

Europe is developing the technology for the Lunar Lander mission, a precursor voyage to the Moon in preparation for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

“Our ambition is to see one day a European astronaut working on the Moon,” says ESA’s Bruno Gardini.

Expected to be launched in 2018, the unmanned craft will land near the lunar South Pole.

In Bruno’s words, “It is the mission that will provide Europe with the planetary landing technology of the future.”

Specialists, including prestigious scientists who worked on the Apollo programme, recently gathered at ESA’s ESTEC space technology centre in the Netherlands to discuss the mission.

The lander’s scientific payload addresses a number of key aspects of the unique environment on the Moon: radiation, dust and volatiles and.

Volatiles, such as water, are those delicate chemical components that under certain conditions would just disappear.

Volatiles may be readily extracted from lunar soil and provide valuable resources such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus or sulphur to aid future human exploration.

Like water, these chemical elements have been implanted by billions of years of exposure to the solar wind and are especially likely to be found at the poles.

“To analyse the volatiles or the water that is all over the Moon in very small quantities, we have to take samples of the materials we find on the surface and analyse them in situ”, says Bruno.

Recent missions have transformed our view of the Moon. This new era of lunar science was well represented by Colin Pillinger. Having begun his career analysing samples of moon rock for the Apollo programme, he is now professor of planetary science at the Open University in the UK.

“We certainly don’t know where the water comes from until we get down there and do more experiments. That’s why the Lunar Lander is so important,” notes Prof. Pillinger.

“I play the devil’s advocate,” says Larry Taylor, from the University of Tennessee, a scientist who guided the US astronauts in the quest for samples on the Moon.

“I’m giving my knowledge about lunar soil, something that I’ve been working on for 40 years. I have a different perspective, so I’m saying to the engineers: are you sure you are going to find this?”

Finding the right landing site is also crucial for science. “You have to go to the exact places where we think these valuable resources might be concentrated,” says Prof. Pillinger.

ESA has selected the South Pole as a landing site for two main reasons. First, there are long periods of illumination that would allow the lander to rely on solar power alone.

Secondly, concludes Bruno, “We will go to a very different place from the equatorial regions explored during the Apollo era, giving the scientists the opportunity to do new experiments and get completely new insights.”

J-2X is a highly efficient and versatile rocket engine and has the ideal thrust and performance characteristics to power the upper stage of a heavy-lift launch vehicle. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA’s new J-2X rocket engine, which could power the upper stage of the nation’s future heavy-lift launch vehicle, is ready for its first round of testing. The fully assembled engine was installed Saturday in the A-2 Test Stand at the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Beginning in mid-June, the engine will undergo a series of 10 test firings that will last several months.

“An upper stage engine is essential to making space exploration outside low-Earth orbit a reality,” said Mike Kynard, manager of the J-2X upper stage engine project at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. “The J-2X goes beyond the limits of its historic predecessor and achieves higher thrust, performance, and reliability than the J2. We are thrilled to have the engine in the test stand to validate our assumptions about engine performance and reliability.”

The test stand, which supported the space shuttle main engine project, has been modified to accommodate the J-2X engine’s different shape. In addition to the structural, electrical and plumbing modifications, a new engine start system was installed and control systems were upgraded on the stand. The liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen transfer lines that dated back to the 1960s were replaced.

Fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, the J-2X engine will generate 294,000 pounds of thrust in its primary operating mode to propel a spacecraft into low-Earth orbit.

By changing the mixture ratio of liquid oxygen to liquid hydrogen, the J-2X can operate in a secondary mode of 242,000 pounds of thrust required to power a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid or other celestial destination. The J-2X can start and restart in space to support a variety of mission requirements.

“We are excited to have a new engine in the A-2 Test Stand,” said Gary Benton, manager of the J-2X engine testing project at Stennis. “Installation of the J-2X engine marks the beginning of the third major rocket engine test project on this historic stand.”

The A-2 Test Stand originally was used to test Saturn V rocket stages for NASA’s Apollo Program. In the mid-1970s, the stand was modified from Apollo Program parameters to allow testing of space shuttle main engines.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., designed and built the J-2X for NASA.

The Orion/Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle ground test article. Image Credit: NASA

Work on the heat shield and thermal protection backshell of the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle ground test article, or GTA, was completed in preparation for environmental testing. This image is of the crew vehicle at the Lockheed Martin Vertical Test Facility in Colorado. The crew vehicle will undergo rigorous testing to confirm its ability to safely fly astronauts through all the harsh environments of deep space exploration missions. Image Credit: NASA

Illustration of the ATV boosting the ISS. Image Credit: ESA

It’s the International Space Station’s biggest increase in altitude to date, and, thanks to ESA’s ATV Johannes Kepler, it will significantly improve the 417-tonne Station’s orbital mileage through the next decade of scientific research.

During three intensive reboost manoeuvres, ATV Johannes Kepler is raising the ISS altitude from around 345 km to 380 km, where it will use far less fuel to maintain its orbit and cutting the amount of fuel that must be sent up in the coming years by almost half. “These reboosts will improve ISS scientific exploitation enormously, since we’ll need to send much less fuel into orbit, making more launch capacity available for spare parts, scientific instruments and supplies,” says ESA’s Nico Dettmann, ATV programme head.

Almost nothing remains of Earth’s atmosphere at 350 or 400 km except faint whips of gas molecules. These are sufficient, however, to cause the Station’s orbit to steadily decay due to drag unless it is periodically reboosted. Moving the Station to a higher orbit means that even fewer reboosts, using even less fuel, must be done in the future.

Fuel vs cargo: Optimising upload tonnage

While the higher orbit means the ISS itself will need less fuel, visiting vessels, such as Russia’s Soyuz, Japan’s HTV and ESA’s ATV will use more fuel to get themselves up to the higher altitude.

“Yes, this means a saving for the ISS but an increased usage for the visiting vessels. Nonetheless, a significantly larger tonnage of food, water, spare parts and research instruments and samples can be sent up, keeping the Station operational until 2020 and beyond,” says Dettmann. The new orbit is being achieved in several steps.

Small steps to Big Boost

On top of a small reboost performed by the Space Shuttle Endeavour on 29 May, ATV is firing the eight thrusters of its Orbit Correction System (OCS) on three separate days under the watchful eyes of the joint ESA/CNES mission operations team at the ATV Control Centre (ATV-CC), Toulouse.

ATV conducted the first boost on 3 June, raising the ISS orbit by about 3.8 km. The next boosts are scheduled for 12 and 15 June and will provide a much bigger jump. On each day, ATV will be commanded to conduct two individual burns lasting about 75 minutes each and consuming, in total, about 1400 kg of propellant.

“A pause between each burn is necessary due to how Kepler’s fuel system pumps propellant and to let the thrusters cool down,” says ESA’s Mike Steinkopf, Mission Director for reboost activities at ATV-CC. Each day will see the Station’s orbit increase by about 20 km.”

Boosting the Station is an excellent example of how ESA’s contribution to the ISS helps all of the international partners.

“With the end of the shuttle era, the Station’s orbit can be optimised at a higher level, which helps all partners make most efficient use of the orbiting outpost’s unique scientific capabilities,” says Dettmann.

“We really are quite pleased that ATV can help out like this. It’s truly a marvellous vessel.”

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134) sits on the runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Endeavour and its six-astronaut crew sailed home for the final time, ending a 16-day journey of more than 6.5 million miles with a landing at 2:34 a.m. EDT on Wednesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

STS-134 was the last mission for the youngest of NASA’s space shuttle fleet. Since 1992, Endeavour flew 25 missions, spent 299 days in space, orbited Earth 4,671 times and traveled 122,883,151 miles.

“We are very proud of Endeavour’s legacy, and this penultimate flight of the space shuttle program once again demonstrated the amazing skill and dedication of our astronauts and the entire workforce,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “As we begin the transition from the shuttle program to the commercial transportation of our crews and cargo, our ability to tackle big challenges remains steadfast and will ensure that NASA reaches even more destinations farther in the solar system.”

Mark Kelly commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Greg H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and the European Space Agency’s Roberto Vittori. Endeavour delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), beginning a scientific voyage of discovery to our solar system and beyond from the International Space Station. By measuring cosmic rays, AMS is designed to help researchers understand the origin of the universe and search for evidence of dark matter, strange matter and antimatter.

Endeavour also delivered the Express Logistics Carrier-3, a platform carrying spare parts that will sustain space station operations once the shuttles are retired from service. The astronauts performed four spacewalks to maintain station systems and install new components.

These were the last scheduled spacewalks by shuttle crew members and brought the final number of shuttle excursions to 164. During 159 spacewalks for assembly and maintenance of the space station, astronauts and cosmonauts have spent a total of 1,002 hours and 37 minutes outside.

Fincke set a new record for time a U.S. astronaut has spent in space when he reached his 377th day on May 27, surpassing previous record holder Peggy Whitson. With today’s landing, Fincke’s record now is at 382 days in space.

A welcome ceremony for the astronauts will be held Thursday, June 2, in Houston. The public is invited to attend the 4 p.m. CDT event at Ellington Field’s NASA Hangar 990. Gates to Ellington Field will open at 3:30 p.m. Highlights from the ceremony will be broadcast on NASA Television’s Video File.

STS-134 was the 134th shuttle flight and the 36th shuttle mission dedicated to station assembly and maintenance. With Endeavour and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the launch of shuttle Atlantis on its STS-135 mission, targeted to begin July 8.

Four veteran astronauts will deliver supplies and spare parts to the space station. The 12-day mission also will install an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to refuel satellites in space robotically — even satellites not designed to be serviced.

Chris Ferguson, a veteran of two previous shuttle missions, will command the flight. Doug Hurley will be the pilot, a role he filled on the STS-127 mission in 2009. Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim will be the mission specialists. Magnus spent four and a half months aboard the station beginning in November 2008. Walheim flew on the STS-110 mission in 2002 and the STS-122 mission in 2008.

STS-135 will be Atlantis’ 33rd mission and the 37th shuttle flight dedicated to station assembly and maintenance. It will be the 135th and final mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program.

HOUSTON – Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff are set to begin the first of four spacewalks planned for the STS-134 mission at 2:16 a.m. Friday.

Mission Specialist Mike Fincke will serve as spacewalk’s internal coach, guiding Feustel and Chamitoff through tasks that will include retrieving a long-duration materials exposure package and installing another on an International Space Station pallet. They’ll also set up a light on one of the station’s handcarts, install a jumper hose for venting ammonia from a station cooling loop, and install a wireless antenna outside the Destiny Laboratory.

The shuttle crew was awakened at 9:30 p.m. Thursday with the song “We All Do What We Can Do.” The song was sent up for Fincke by shuttle thermal protection system engineer Dan Keenan, and Kenny McLaughlin, a Kennedy Space Center launch pad engineer. The two shuttle workers created the song to honor those who have helped make the space program a success.

Feustel and Chamitoff “camped out” in the Quest airlock overnight, helping acclimate their bodies to the lower atmospheric pressure of their space suits, reducing the possibility of decompression sickness by purging nitrogen bubbles from their bloodstreams.

Scientists on the ground completed activation of the 15,251-pound Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS-2) and began collecting data about cosmic particles from its new home atop the starboard truss of the space station. AMS-2 is expected to gather data for the life of the space station. Endeavour Pilot Greg Johnson and Chamitoff used Canadarm2 to install the instrument Thursday, accepting a hand-off from shuttle arm operators Feustel and Mission Specialist Roberto Vittori, who lifted AMS-2 out of Endeavour’s cargo bay.

Also Thursday, Expedition 27 crew members Dmitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman completed a Soyuz drill in preparation for their planned departure Monday. American and Russian flight control teams are preparing a plan to collect images of shuttle-station complex after they undock, although mission managers have not yet given final approval for the activity.

Experts on the ground also continue to analyze images taken of Endeavour’s thermal protection system as they consider whether additional inspection is required before the shuttle undocks. Saturday’s schedule is being developed with the assumption that the added scrutiny will be needed, but an official decision is not expected until Friday.

Space shuttle Endeavour lifts off on her final historic voyage into space. Image Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space Shuttle Endeavour and its crew of six astronauts are headed for space, ready to begin their 16-day mission to the International Space Station. The climb to orbit takes about 8 1/2 minutes.

Following a relatively smooth countdown, the weather cooperated leading to an on-time liftoff from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:56 a.m. EDT.

The crew members for space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori.

During the 16-day mission, Endeavour and its crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre.

After 30 years of spaceflight, more than 130 missions, and numerous science and technology firsts, NASA’s space shuttle fleet will retire and be on display at institutions across the country to inspire the next generation of explorers and engineers.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Tuesday announced the facilities where four shuttle orbiters will be displayed permanently at the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program.

• Shuttle Enterprise, the first orbiter built, will move from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

• The Udvar-Hazy Center will become the new home for shuttle Discovery, which retired after completing its 39th mission in March.

• Shuttle Endeavour, which is preparing for its final flight at the end of the month will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

• Shuttle Atlantis, which will fly the last planned shuttle mission in June, will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex in Florida.

“We want to thank all of the locations that expressed an interest in one of these national treasures,” Bolden said. “This was a very difficult decision, but one that was made with the American public in mind. In the end, these choices provide the greatest number of people with the best opportunity to share in the history and accomplishments of NASA’s remarkable Space Shuttle Program. These facilities we’ve chosen have a noteworthy legacy of preserving space artifacts and providing outstanding access to U.S. and international visitors.”

NASA also announced that hundreds of shuttle artifacts have been allocated to museums and education institutions.

• Various shuttle simulators for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum of McMinnville, Ore., and Texas A&M’s Aerospace Engineering Department

• Full fuselage trainer for the Museum of Flight in Seattle

• Nose cap assembly and crew compartment trainer for the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio

• Flight deck pilot and commander seats for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston

• Orbital maneuvering system engines for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center of Huntsville, Ala., National Air and Space Museum in Washington, and Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

Tracking data now indicates that a piece of orbital debris being monitored by Mission Control Houston will not pass close enough to the International Space Station to warrant the Expedition 27 crew members taking safe haven within their Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft.

Mission Control gave the crew the all-clear at 2:41 p.m. EDT as the space station orbited 220 miles above eastern Asia.

Flight controllers have been monitoring the debris from the Chinese FENGYUN 1C satellite since early this morning, and informed Commander Dmitry Kondratyev at 7:01 a..m. EDT that the station crew would need to begin the shelter procedures if it remained on track.

The time of closest approach is at 4:21 p.m. EDT.

For more information about orbital debris and how the International Space Station team tracks and responds to threats, visit: Orbital debris and the International Space Station

Meanwhile, NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev continue their journey to the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft following their launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:18 p.m. EDT Monday (4:18 a.m. Tuesday, Kazakhstan time). Their Soyuz, named for Yuri Gagarin, lifted off just one week shy of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s historic journey into space from that same launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The trio will dock to the Poisk module at 7:18 p.m. Wednesday, bringing the Expedition 27 crew to its full six-member complement. Garan, Borisenko and Samokutyaev will join the current station residents, Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli, and begin a nearly six-month tour of duty aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli arrived Dec. 17 aboard their Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft.

An artist's concept of the Falcon Heavy rocket. Image Credit: SpaceX

Today, Elon Musk, CEO and chief rocket designer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) unveiled the dramatic final specifications and launch date for the Falcon Heavy, the world’s largest rocket. “Falcon Heavy will carry more payload to orbit or escape velocity than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn V moon rocket, which was decommissioned after the Apollo program. This opens a new world of capability for both government and commercial space missions,” Musk told a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

“Falcon Heavy will arrive at our Vandenberg, California, launch complex by the end of next year, with liftoff to follow soon thereafter. First launch from our Cape Canaveral launch complex is planned for late 2013 or 2014.”

Musk added that with the ability to carry satellites or interplanetary spacecraft weighing over 53 metric tons or 117,000 pounds to orbit, Falcon Heavy will have more than twice the performance of the Space Shuttle or Delta IV Heavy, the next most powerful vehicle, which is operated by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.

53 metric tons is more than the maximum take-off weight of a fully-loaded Boeing 737-200 with 136 passengers. In other words, Falcon Heavy can deliver the equivalent of an entire commercial airplane full of passengers, crew, luggage and fuel all the way to orbit.

Falcon Heavy’s first stage will be made up of three nine-engine cores, which are used as the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. It will be powered by SpaceX’s upgraded Merlin engines currently being tested at the SpaceX rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. Falcon Heavy will generate 3.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. This is the equivalent to the thrust of fifteen Boeing 747s taking off at the same time.

Above all, Falcon Heavy has been designed for extreme reliability. Unique safety features of the Falcon 9 are preserved, such as the ability to complete its mission even if multiple engines fail. Like a commercial airliner, each engine is surrounded by a protective shell that contains a worst case situation like fire or a chamber rupture, preventing it from affecting other engines or the vehicle itself.

Anticipating potential astronaut transport needs, Falcon Heavy is also designed to meet NASA human rating standards, unlike other satellite launch vehicles. For example, this means designing to higher structural safety margins of 40% above flight loads, rather than the 25% level of other rockets, and triple redundant avionics.

Falcon Heavy will be the first rocket in history to do propellant cross-feed from the side boosters to the center core, thus leaving the center core with most of its propellant after the side boosters separate. The net effect is that Falcon Heavy achieves performance comparable to a three stage rocket, even though only the upper stage is airlit, further improving both payload performance and reliability. Crossfeed is not required for missions below 100,000 lbs, and can be turned off if desired.

Despite being designed to higher structural margins than other rockets, the side booster stages will have a mass ratio (full of propellant vs empty) above 30, better than any vehicle of any kind in history.

Falcon Heavy, with more than twice the payload, but less than one third the cost of a Delta IV Heavy, will provide much needed relief to government and commercial budgets. In fact, Falcon Heavy at approximately $1,000 per pound to orbit, sets a new world record in affordable spaceflight.

This year, even as the Department of Defense budget was cut, the EELV launch program, which includes the Delta IV, still saw a thirty percent increase.

The 2012 budget for four Air Force launches is $1.74B, which is an average of $435M per launch. Falcon 9 is offered on the commercial market for $50-60M and Falcon Heavy is offered for $80-$125M. Unlike our competitors, this price includes all non-recurring development costs and on-orbit delivery of an agreed upon mission. For government missions, NASA has added mission assurance and additional services to the Falcon 9 for less than $20M.

Vehicle Overview

Mass to Orbit (200 km, 28.5 deg): 53 metric tons (117,000 lbs)
Length: 69.2 meters (227 ft)
Max Stage Width: 5.2 m (17 ft)
Total Width: 11.6 meters (38 ft)
Weight at Liftoff: 1,400 metric tons or 3.1 million lbs
Thrust on Liftoff: 1,700 metric tons or 3.8 million lbs

NOTE: Falcon Heavy should not be confused with the super heavy lift rocket program being debated by the U.S. Congress. That vehicle is authorized to carry between 70-130 metric tons to orbit.

Soyuz TMA-21 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, April 5, 2011, carrying Expedition 27 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan and Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko to the International Space Station.

WASHINGTON — One week shy of the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev launched to the International Space Station at 6:18 p.m. EDT Monday (4:18 a.m. local time, April 5) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz rocket that lifted Garan, Borisenko and Samokutyaev into orbit was decorated with Yuri Gagarin’s name. The mission lifted off from the same launch pad used April 12, 1961, when Gagarin became the first human to journey into space.

The crew is scheduled to dock its Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft to the station’s Poisk port at 7:18 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6. The crew members will join Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman of NASA and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since December 2010.

On Wednesday, NASA Television will broadcast live coverage of the docking beginning at 6:45 p.m. Coverage of the hatch opening and a welcoming ceremony aboard the station will begin at 8:45 p.m.

During Expedition 27, the six-person crew will continue scientific research, perform station maintenance and welcome two visiting vehicles. In addition to space shuttle Endeavour’s planned visit during the STS-134 mission, the Expedition 27 crew is expecting the arrival of the 42nd Russian Progress cargo ship near the end of April.

Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli are scheduled to depart the station May 16.

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are scheduled to join Garan, Borisenko and Samokutyaev aboard the station to complete the Expedition 28 crew. Their launch is set for May 30.

The Soyuz launch site. The launch pad lies 13 km northwest of the Ariane 5 launch complex. Image Credit: ESA

The Soyuz site at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana is now ready for its first launch. ESA yesterday handed over the complex to Arianespace, marking a major step towards this year’s inaugural flight.

Construction of the Soyuz site began in February 2007, although initial excavation and ground infrastructure work began in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Russian staff arrived in French Guiana in mid-2008 to assemble the launch table, mobile gantry, fuelling systems and test benches.

The first two Soyuz launchers arrived from Russia by sea in November 2009 to be assembled in the new preparation and integration building.

The French space agency, CNES, as prime contractor for the building work, along with its European and Russian partners, has spent recent months qualifying the site – known as Ensemble de Lancement Soyuz, or ELS for short.

The tests covered all the mechanical, fluid and electrical elements, such as the pad’s umbilical arms and fuelling vehicles, and all the buildings, including the launch control centre that will house the combined European and Russian teams.

The ‘acceptance review’ this week declared that the site is ready for its first rocket. At the same time CNES handed over the facilities to ESA.

The last step this week was ESA’s hand-over to Arianespace.

Main Features of the Soyuz Site

The launch site is almost identical to the other Soyuz sites in Kazakhstan and Russia, although adapted to conform to European safety regulations. The most visible difference is the 45 m-tall mobile gantry, which provides a protected environment as payloads are installed on the vertical launcher. Its internal movable work platforms provide access to the Soyuz at various levels.

What’s next?

From now on Arianespace is responsible for the Soyuz launch site and will begin the campaign this month to qualify its launch operations.

A launch rehearsal will ensure that the Soyuz and the new facilities work together perfectly, while allowing the teams to train under realistic launch conditions.

This simulated launch campaign will include the vehicle’s transfer to the launch zone, its erection into the vertical position, its installation on the pad, and the testing of ground and launcher interfaces.

These final tests will give the green light for the first Soyuz flight from French Guiana in the third quarter of 2011.

Alexander Kaleri (center) and Commander Scott Kelly sit in chairs outside the Soyuz capsule just minutes after they landed near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Image Credit: NASA

Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly and Russian Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka safely landed their Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan Wednesday, wrapping up a five-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

Kaleri, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 12:27 a.m. EDT from the station’s Poisk module. The trio landed at 3:54 a.m. (1:54 p.m. local time) at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk.

Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew members exit the Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after their extended stay on the International Space Station. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 7, 2010. As members of the Expedition 25 and 26 crews, they spent 159 days in space, 157 of them aboard the station. Kelly has logged more than 180 days in space and Kaleri has more than 770. This was Skripochka’s first space mission.

Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly wears a blue wrist band that has a peace symbol, a heart and the word 'Gabby' to show his support for his sister-in-law U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as he rested onboard a Russian Search and Rescue helicopter shortly after he and fellow crew members Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri landed in their Soyuz TMA-01M capsule near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Image Credit: NASA

During their mission, they worked on more than 150 microgravity experiments in human research; biology and biotechnology; physical and materials sciences; technology development; and Earth and space sciences. They also welcomed a succession of international space vehicles that delivered more than 11 tons of supplies to the station: the Japanese Kounotori2, or “white stork,” H-II Transfer Vehicle 2; the Russian cargo ships Progress 40 and Progress 41; the European Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle; and space shuttle Discovery.

Expedition 27 Commander and Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman of NASA and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency remain aboard the station.

Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli had an opportunity to catch up on some rest Wednesday as they shift back to normal operations after the Soyuz departure.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Nespoli and Coleman unpacked Robonaut 2 from its packing crate. Robonaut 2 is a human-like robot that was delivered to the station by the STS-133 crew of space shuttle Discovery in February. The robot will teach engineers how dexterous robots behave in space and through upgrades and advancements could one day venture outside the station to help spacewalkers make repairs or additions to the station or perform scientific work.

A new trio of Expedition 27 flight engineers, NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome no earlier than March 29.

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134) sits over the flame trench at Launch Pad 39A. Image Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At about 7:40 a.m. EDT this morning, a United Space Alliance worker fell at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A. NASA emergency medical personnel responded, but they were unable to revive the man. Because of medical privacy, currently we’re not able to release any additional details about this fatality. Family members are being notified.

All work at Launch Pad 39A has been suspended for the rest of the day, and counseling and other employee assistance are being provided to workers. Right now our focus is on our workers and for the family of the USA employee.

The incident is under investigation.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At 11:57 a.m. EST, Space Shuttle Discovery landed for the final time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after 202 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,304,140 miles on STS-133.

Discovery’s main gear touched down at 11:57:17 a.m. followed by the nose gear at 11:57:28 and wheels stop at 11:58:14 a.m. At wheels stop, the mission elapsed time was 12 days, 19 hours, four minutes and 50 seconds.

Space Shuttle Discovery lands for the FINAL time at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image Credit: NASA

A post-landing news conference with managers at Kennedy is expected no earlier than 2 p.m. on NASA TV. The participants will be Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager, and Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director.

STS-133 was the 39th and final flight for Discovery, which spent 365 days in space, orbited Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles.

During Space Shuttle Discovery’s final spaceflight, the STS-133 crew members delivered important spare parts to the International Space Station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4.

Prior to launch, Astronaut Steve Bowen replaced Astronaut Tim Kopra as Mission Specialist 2 following a bicycle injury on Jan. 15 that prohibited Kopra from supporting the launch window. Bowen last flew on Atlantis in May 2010 as part of the STS-132 crew. Flying on the STS-133 mission makes Bowen the first astronaut ever to fly on consecutive missions.

HOUSTON – The STS-133 crew received another special wakeup call on Tuesday, as they began what is scheduled to be Space Shuttle Discovery’s last full day in space.

The wakeup call at 2:23 a.m. was “Blue Sky” by Big Head Todd and the Monsters. The song was performed live by Todd Park Mohr, vocalist and lead guitarist of the band, accompanied by fellow band mates Brian Nevin, Rob Squires and Jeremy Lawton.

Tuesday’s wakeup song, “Blue Sky,” was played live from Mission Control by Todd Park Mohr of Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Image Credit: NASA

The song received the most votes in NASA’s Top 40 song contest receiving 722,662 votes (29 percent of the 2,463,774 total). It was originally written as a tribute to the space program and workforce, and is routinely played in concert by the four-member band.

The live performance was the first time a shuttle crew has been awakened “live” from Mission Control, Houston.

The song that received the second most votes in the contest was played Monday morning. The “Theme from Star Trek” with a special introduction by William Shatner received 671,134 votes (27 percent of the total).

The rest of the crew’s day will be spent primarily on preparations for Wednesday’s landing, which is scheduled for 10:57 a.m. at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialist Nicole Stott will be performing a checkout of Discovery’s flight control systems and firing its reaction control system jets. All members of the crew will work together to stow hardware and equipment.

The crew will also come together at 10:23 a.m. to talk with ABC News, CBS News and The Associated Press. And at 11:08 a.m., they’re scheduled to send down a message paying tribute to Discovery and the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program.

The crew is scheduled to begin their sleep period at 6:23 p.m.