Orion Clean Room Subs Filters, Fans for Ceiling

Turns out a clean room doesn't necessarily need a roof, NASA is finding out as it tries out a design that could be assembled around the Orion spacecraft as it is prepared for launch in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The key to the concept, developed by Astrotech, is two 10-foot-high walls of filter-equipped fans positioned 30 feet apart to push and pull the air in one direction across the capsule, keeping particles from settling on the spacecraft's surface.

A set of clear walls completes the box, but there is no ceiling. That's important because engineers want to use the large cranes already in the VAB to lift the Orion spacecraft and its shell into place as it is assembled on top of the Space Launch System rocket. If they have to build a clean room with its own crane, the cost would be much higher.

Construction Begins on Atlantis' Permanent Home

With space shuttle Atlantis' 25-year spaceflight career now in the history books, its next mission -- to inform and inspire generations of visitors to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida -- is one step closer to reality. A groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 18 officially launched construction of a new 65,000-square-foot exhibit at the complex's Space Shuttle Plaza, where NASA's fourth space-rated orbiter will be the main attraction.

"It is an honor to create the home for space shuttle Atlantis and to work with NASA to tell its story to the world," said Jeremy Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of Delaware North Companies, which operates the visitor complex for NASA.

Participating in the event were Jacobs; Janet Petro, Kennedy Space Center deputy director; Chris Ferguson, who commanded Atlantis on its final mission, STS-135; Bill Moore, chief operating officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; and Florida Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll. Wearing hard hats and gripping shovels, they made the ceremonial first turn of the soil at the construction site.

NASA's Shuttle Endeavour Heads To Space Station On Its Final Mission

Space shuttle Commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 8:56 a.m. EDT Monday. The STS-134 mission is the penultimate orbiter flight and the final one for shuttle Endeavour. "This mission represents the power of teamwork, commitment and exploration," Commander Mark Kelly said shortly before liftoff. "It is in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop. To all the millions watching today including our spouses, children, family and friends, we thank you for your support." The crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) and critical supplies to the space station, including two communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional parts for the Dextre robot.

AMS is a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual cosmic matter. The crew also will transfer Endeavour's orbiter boom sensor system to the station, where it could assist spacewalkers as an extension for the station's robotic arm. "Today's final launch of Endeavour is a testament to American ingenuity and leadership in human spaceflight," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "As we look toward a bright future with the International Space Station as our anchor and new destinations in deep space on the horizon, we salute the astronauts and ground crews who have ensured the orbiter's successful missions. The presence of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at the launch inspired us all, just as America's space program has done for the past 50 years."

Kelly's crewmates are Pilot Greg H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency. This is the first shuttle flight for Fincke and Vittori. Vittori will be the last international astronaut to fly aboard a shuttle. Endeavour is scheduled to dock to the station at 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday. The 16-day mission includes four spacewalks. After undocking to return to Earth, Kelly and Johnson will ease the shuttle back toward the station to test new sensor technologies that could facilitate the docking of future space vehicles to the station. The shuttle's first landing opportunity at Kennedy is scheduled for 2:32 a.m. on June 1. STS-134 is the 134th shuttle flight, the 25th flight for Endeavour and the 36th shuttle mission dedicated to station assembly and maintenance.

NASA Sets May 16 For Final Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch

NASA managers have set the liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour for 8:56 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 16. Launch attempts are available through May 26, except for May 21. The STS-134 mission to the International Space Station is the penultimate shuttle flight and the final one for Endeavour. Space Shuttle Program Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses and Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach announced the date at a news briefing Monday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They also discussed the progress of repairs since Endeavour's launch postponement on April 29.

A short in the heater circuit associated with Endeavour's hydraulic system resulted in the launch postponement. Technicians determined the most likely failure was inside a switchbox in the shuttle's aft compartment and associated electrical wiring connecting the switchbox to the heaters. The heater circuits prevent freezing of the fuel lines providing hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry. The faulty box was replaced May 4. Since Friday, Kennedy technicians installed and tested new wiring that bypasses the suspect electrical wiring and confirmed the heater system is working properly. They also are completing retests of other systems powered by the switchbox and are closing out Endeavour's aft compartment.

STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates are set to arrive at Kennedy for prelaunch preparations on Thursday, May 12, at approximately 11 a.m. NASA Television will broadcast the crew's arrival live. The crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) and critical supplies to the space station, including two communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional parts for the Dextre robot. AMS is a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual matter. The crew also will transfer Endeavour's orbiter boom sensor system to the station, where it could assist spacewalkers as an extension for the station's robotic arm.

Glory Launch Set for March 4

NASA's Glory spacecraft is scheduled for launch on Friday, March 4. Technical issues with ground support equipment for the Taurus XL launch vehicle led to the scrub of the original Feb. 23 launch attempt. Those issues have been resolved. The liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is targeted for 5:09:43 a.m. EST, in the middle of a 48-second launch window. Spacecraft separation occurs 13 minutes after launch. Coverage of the countdown on the Glory launch blog and on NASA TV will begin on launch day at 3:30 a.m. EST. Data from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate.

Both aerosols and solar energy influence the planet's energy budget the amount of energy entering and exiting Earth's atmosphere. An accurate measurement of these impacts is important in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and how they may affect human life. Project management for Glory is the responsibility of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is the launch service provider to Kennedy of the four-stage Taurus XL rocket and is also builder of the Glory satellite for Goddard. 

Discovery’s last crew arrive at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Arriving in their trademark T-38 Talon jets, the crew that will fly the final mission of the space shuttle Discovery inwards at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at 3:45 p.m. EDT and took a little moments to speak to members of the media and pose for pictures before heading off to train for their 11-day mission. Discovery is now slated to begin its mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with liftoff taking place at 4:50 p.m. EDT Thursday, Feb. 24. The STS-133 mission is Discovery’s last planned flight.

However, STS-132, which took place this past May, was shuttle Atlantis’ final planned flight now that orbiter is scheduled to close out the shuttle program when it whole mission STS-135, which is scheduled to take place late this summer. The crew will convey the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) to the space station. The PMM was customized from the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Leonardo which was fundamentally a cargo container. Now, Leonardo will be a permanent fixture on the orbiting outpost given that additional storage for the station’s crew. On the way to orbit, the PMM will carry, among further things, the first human-like robot ever flown in space, Robonaut 2 (R2).

R2 will stay onboard the place and will be used to test the viability of related robots in assisting astronauts on future long-duration missions. One of the things that the station can forever use is more spare parts. STS-133 will deliver various division and the Express Logistics Carrier 4, a platform that holds great equipment. The crew consists of Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission expert Alvin Drew, Steve Bowen, Michael Barratt and Nicole Stott. Bowen is a final minute addition to the crew.

NASA Repairs On Discovery restart Monday

Technicians working on space shuttle Discovery's outside fuel tank in the Vehicle Assembly structure at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are off for the New Year holiday weekend, however, Monday, they will start repairs on three support beams, called stringers, that newly were detect to have small cracks on their tops. Engineers at different NASA centers continue to examine data from testing and X-ray type image scans gather during the past week of all 108 stringers on the outer of the external tank's ‪intertank section. The image scans showed four little cracks on three stringers on the opposite area of the tank from Discovery. Managers determined Thursday to have those cracks repaired in a like fashion to repairs complete on cracks on two stringers found after Discovery's Nov. 5 launch attempt.

The repair work is predictable to take two to three days. Any further work will be evaluate thoroughly during the week after extra data and analysis are reviewed. Managers also carry on to evaluate an option to perform recognized and practiced modifications on some stringers. Before breaking for the holiday, technicians reconfigured scaffolding to give access for the alteration work, should it be required. A result may be made on that work as early as Monday. The next obtainable launch date for Discovery's STS-133 mission to the International Space Station remainder Feb. 3 at the opening of a window that expand through Feb. 10.

Astronaut Alan Poindexter Leaves NASA

Veteran NASA astronaut Alan Poindexter has left the agency to return to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Poindexter, a U.S. Navy captain, earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the school in 1995. He will return to serve as the dean of students and executive director of programs. "Dex was a well-respected leader within our office," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We will miss him being part of our team and wish him the best in his new role as he continues his service to the Navy and the country."

A veteran of two spaceflights, Poindexter logged more than 669 hours in space. In 2008, he was the pilot on the STS-122 space shuttle mission to deliver and install the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station. In 2010, he was the commander for STS-131, a resupply mission to the station that delivered more than 13,000 pounds of hardware and equipment. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1998 and served in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch as the lead support astronaut at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He also served as a spacecraft communicator, or capcom, for several missions.

Mars Rover Construction Webcam Tops Million Viewers

More than one million people have watched assembly and testing of NASA's next Mars rover via a live webcam since it went online in October. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, is being tested and assembled in a clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The webcam, affectionately dubbed "Curiosity Cam," shows engineers and technicians clad in head-to-toe white smocks working on the rover. Metrics from the webcam's hosting platform, Ustream, showed more than one million unique viewers spent more than 400,000 hours watching Curiosity Cam between Oct. 21 and Nov. 23. There have been more than 2.3 million viewer sessions.

The camera is mounted in the viewing gallery of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at JPL. While the gallery is a regular stop on JPL's public tour, Curiosity Cam allows visitors from around the world to see NASA engineers at work without traveling to Pasadena. Viewers from Chile, Japan, Turkey, Spain, Mexico and the United Kingdom have sent good wishes and asked questions in the chat box that accompanies the Curiosity Cam webstream. At scheduled times, viewers can interact with each other and JPL staff. The chat schedule is updated weekdays at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl . Months of assembly and testing remain before the car-sized rover is ready for launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The rover and spacecraft components will ship to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida next spring. The launch will occur between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011. Curiosity will arrive on Mars in August 2012. The rover is one of the most technologically challenging interplanetary missions ever designed. Curiosity is engineered to drive longer distances over rougher terrain than previous Mars rovers. It will carry a science payload 10 times the mass of instruments on NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Curiosity will investigate whether the landing region had environments favorable for supporting microbial life. It will also look for environments that have been favorable for preserving evidence about whether life existed. 

Hundreds Tour Kennedy on Two Wheels

Hundreds of bicyclists mingled with spacecraft Oct. 23 as Kennedy employees, family and guests pedaled around the center for the second Tour de KSC. Grouped by speed and skill levels, some riders covered all the landmarks Kennedy has to offer, including the Vehicle Assembly Building, both shuttle launch pads and the Shuttle Landing Facility. Plenty of stops along the way offered employees and their guests photo ops with space shuttle Discovery on Launch Pad 39A. In all, 681 people rode their bikes onto the space center for the event, said Dicksy Hansen, chair of Combined Federal Campaign or CFC. " We had a range of those employees who haven’t been on a bike for years up to very talented cyclists who cycle passionately," Hansen said.

"There were beach cruisers, recumbents, touring, and racing bikes. Some people were dressed in cycling gear and others dressed in regular, every day clothes. There was even an 18th Century style bicycle with a very large rear wheel and small front wheel. This made the event even more diverse and entertaining." The entry fee for each person included a donation to the CFC and organizers of this year's event were able to contribute $10,215 to the annual fundraising drive. Riders also received a T-shirt. "We increased our CFC donation from $5 to $15 a ticket which increased our donation from $2,500 last year to $10,000 this year," Hansen said. Center Director Bob Cabana, a former astronaut and avid cyclist, led a group out from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex then up to the VAB.

"I believe that there is a variety of reasons folks come out," Hansen said. "Some because they love cycling and KSC so it is a great day for them when the two come together. Other folks just enjoy coming out to KSC and bringing their guests to view the Center. There aren’t very many opportunities for employees to bring guests on Center. Others wanted to support CFC and contribute by enjoying a few hours cycling around the Center." Last year's inaugural event also opened the CFC season. This was the second Tour de KSC, but will not be the last, Hansen said. Each event takes considerable planning and Hansen's group already anticipates holding the third event next year. 

Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns Home After Its Final Planned Mission

Space shuttle Atlantis and six astronauts ended a 12-day journey of more than 4.8 million miles with an 8:48 a.m. EDT landing Wednesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The third of five shuttle missions planned for 2010, this was the last scheduled flight for Atlantis.

The mission, designated STS-132, delivered the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 to the International Space Station. Also known as Rassvet ("dawn" in Russian), the module provides additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.

Ken Ham commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Steve Bowen and Piers Sellers.The mission's three space walks focused on replacing and installing components outside the station, including replacing six batteries, installing a communications antenna and adding parts to the Canadian Dextre robotic arm.