First Space-Bound Orion Comes Alive With First Weld

Construction began this week on the first new NASA spacecraft built to take humans to orbit since space shuttle Endeavour left the factory in 1991. Engineers at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans started welding together the first space-bound Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

“This marks the beginning of NASA’s next step to send humans far beyond Earth orbit,” said Orion program manager Mark Geyer. “The Orion team has maintained a steady focus on progress, and we now are beginning to build hardware for spaceflight. With this milestone, we enter the home stretch toward our first trip to space in this new vehicle.”

The team is using a method known as friction stir welding. This technique was first used by NASA to build the space shuttle external tanks, and it creates seamless welds, producing a stronger and more durable joint than those produced by conventional welding techniques. The process uses frictional heat to transform the aluminum-lithium alloys that comprise Orion from a solid state to a plastic-like state before reaching the melting point, and then stirs them together under pressure to complete the bond. This type of welding ensures optimal structural integrity for the harsh environments of space.

Two Events Commemorate 50th Anniversary of U.S. Human Spaceflight

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned spaceflight during two events this week around the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA Television will carry both events live. On Wednesday, May 4, at 2 p.m. EDT, the U.S. Postal Service will unveil two new stamps at the Rocket Garden of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, located on State Road 405. Journalists interested in covering the event should contact Andrea Farmer at 321-449-4318 or Jillian McRae at 321-449-4273. Media need to arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of the ceremony.

One stamp commemorates NASA's Project Mercury and Alan Shepard's historic launch on May 5, 1961 aboard the spacecraft Freedom 7. The second stamp honors NASA's MESSENGER, which reached Mercury in March to become the first spacecraft to orbit the planet. The two missions frame a remarkable 50-year period in which America advanced space exploration through more than 1,500 manned and unmanned flights. Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter and members of the Shepard family will join Bolden at the stamps' unveiling and at a 50th anniversary ceremony on Thursday, May 5, at 9 a.m., at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

To cover the event, news media representatives need to be at the Air Force Badging Office (Gate 1) at 6:30 a.m. for transportation to Complex 5/6. Mission badges for the STS-134 shuttle mission will be honored for this event. Reporters who do not have one must contact Christopher Calkins at 321-494-7732 or Auburn Davis at 321-494-6489 to arrange for media credentials. The Thursday event includes a re-creation of Shepard's flight and recovery, as well as a tribute to his contributions as a moonwalker on the Apollo 14 lunar mission. KSC Director and former astronaut Bob Cabana and more than 200 workers from the original Mercury program, also will be in attendance.

Astronaut Marsha Ivins Leaves NASA

NASA astronaut Marsha Ivins, a veteran of five spaceflights, has retired from the agency. "Marsha's incredible depth of mission experience and technical expertise has been a tremendous asset to this office," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We have relied on her expertise for years in many diverse areas, including but not limited to crew provisions, optimal hardware packing, human ratings development, vehicle habitability and orbiter preflight vehicle checks. Her expertise and dedication to NASA's mission will be sorely missed."

Ivins joined NASA in 1974 as an engineer. She worked on space shuttle displays, controls, man-machine engineering and the development of the orbiter's head-up display. She served in Johnson's aircraft operations as a flight engineer for the Shuttle Training Aircraft and copilot of the Gulfstream I. Ivins was selected as an astronaut in 1984. She spent more than 1,300 hours in space during five shuttle flights: STS-32 in 1990, STS-46 in 1992, STS-62 in 1994, STS-81 in 1997 and STS-98 in 2001. Ivins most recently worked within the Astronaut Office supporting the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation Programs.

NASA Chief Heads to China Amid Lawmaker Concerns

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden left for Beijing Oct. 15 amid mixed congressional response to Bolden's plans to meet with Chinese officials to discuss the possible for cooperation in human spaceflight. Two House Republicans and a Democrat representing the Congressional U.S. China Working Group write Bolden Oct. 12 to express their sustain for the five day trip and request the NASA chief raise the possibility of a "joint-rescue capability in space that would allow the U.S., China and Russia to save each other's space crews."

The letter, signed by Reps. Rick Larsen, Charles Boustany and Mark Kirk, said Bolden should think developing a common docking interface for space capsules capable of attainment the international space station, including the Chinese Shenzhou, Russian Soyuz and NASA's Orion crew capsule, which the agency is still planning to expand for use as a crew lifeboat on the orbiting outpost. "As NASA develops the new Crew Return Vehicle based on the work previously done on the Orion crew capsule, the U.S. should begin discussion on a ordinary docking ring between the CRV, Shenzhou and Soyuz," the letter states. Other lawmakers, however, are adamantly opposite to such cooperation and made sure Bolden was aware of their displeasure.

U.S. Reps. Frank Wolf of Virginia, John Culberson of Texas and Robert Aderholt of Alabama all Republicans portion on the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee that approves NASA's annual budgets connected California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in objecting to Bolden's trip in a note sent to the NASA chief as he left town. "As you know, we have serious concerns about the nature and goals of China's space program and powerfully oppose any cooperation between NASA and China," the lawmakers wrote in the Oct. 15 letter to Bolden. "In light of the small notice and scant information provided before your departure to China, we respectfully request a full conference with you upon your return."

Leaders Assess Future of US Space Travel

For the first time in nearly 50 years of American human spaceflight, Kennedy Space Center could be at the forefront of designing, developing, demonstrating and flying human-rated vehicles. "We're looking to create a robust commercial space program with multiple customers, multiple providers and multiple systems that take Americans to the International Space Station and other low Earth orbit destinations," said Ed Mango, director of the Space Transportation Planning Office. In May, the office sent out a Commercial Crew Initiative Request for Information (RFI). Mango, along with the office's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Planning Lead Phil McAlister, Deputy Program Planning Manager Brent Jett and Insight Manager Scott Thurston, recently participated in a forum at NASA Headquarters to talk about common themes captured from dozens of industry responses.

ESMD Deputy Administrator Dr. Laurie Leshin, Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program Manager Alan Lindenmoyer and the Space Transportation Office's Deputy Director Maria Collura also were on hand to offer insight. "We have about 50 team members from shuttle, space station, Constellation, the Launch Services Program, the astronaut office, other NASA centers and contractors all coming together and melding our ideas of what commercial crew should be," Mango said. "And we're melding. it's like making gumbo and we just started making the roux." If the Commercial Crew Program is approved by Congress and the White House, it would have several billion dollars within a five- year period to develop humanrating requirements, partner with commercial entities and complete design and development. The program also would include demonstration flights.

"We believe that we could fund up to four providers with that $5.8 billion," McAlister said. "We definitely want competition. That is a key aspect to our strategy. We need multiple providers that are coming forward with innovative solutions." In addition to competition, will be collaboration. Thurston described more in depth about how NASA will take on a more "insight" role than its traditional "oversight" role and it's a change that the team doesn't take lightly. "NASA has to re-examine what has been our traditional identity," said Leshin, "and think about our role in a new way as catalysts of a much broader and more inclusive activity." Another aspect of collaboration would come from industries that are interested in performing science and research in low Earth orbit, whether on board the International Space Station or other future orbiting complexes.

NASA Selects University Finalists for Inflatable Loft Competition

NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation have selected university teams from Maryland, Oklahoma and Wisconsin as finalists in a competition to design, manufacture, assemble and test an inflatable loft. NASA is challenging college students to design and rapidly develop prototype concepts for inflatable habitat lofts for the next generation of space explorers. The loft will be integrated onto an existing NASA operational hard-shell prototype habitat. The winning concepts may be applied to space exploration habitats of the future. "This competition gives these students the opportunity of a lifetime," said NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "They'll design and build new hardware. If their team wins, they'll get the chance to integrate their designs into a NASA hard shell habitat and see it field tested next summer."

The inaugural eXploration Habitat, or X-Hab, Academic Innovation Challenge finalists are:

Oklahoma State University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Maryland

The competition is a university-level challenge designed to encourage studies in spaceflight-related engineering and architecture disciplines. This design competition requires undergraduate and graduate students to explore NASA's work to develop space habitats, while also helping the agency gather new and innovative ideas to complement current research and development. In June 2011 at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the NASA-Habitat Demonstration Unit project will conduct a head-to-head competition among the three teams to successfully demonstrate an attachable inflatable habitat "loft" concept, based on a list of NASA requirements for the design. The Houston competition will determine the winning team, which will be awarded additional funds to integrate their design with the NASA habitat during field testing in August and September 2011.

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Astronauts Linda Godwin and Scott Altman Leave NASA

NASA astronauts Linda Godwin and Scott Altman have announced plans to leave the agency. Godwin will retire and Altman will take a job in the private sector. Godwin joined NASA in 1980 and worked in the Payload Operations Division. She was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1985. A veteran of four spaceflights, Godwin logged more than 38 days in space, including more than 10 hours during two spacewalks. She flew aboard STS-37 in 1991; served as payload commander of STS-59 in 1994; and flew on STS-76 in 1996 and STS-108 in 2001. Godwin also supported numerous technical assignments within NASA's Astronaut Office and most recently served as the assistant to the director for exploration, Flight Crew Operations Directorate.

"Linda's 30-year career at NASA was filled with contributions to the human spaceflight mission," said Brent Jett, director of Flight Crew Operations at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "She should be proud of her service to the agency and the country." Altman, a retired U.S. Navy captain, joined NASA in March 1995. He also has flown four shuttle missions, logging more than 51 days in space. He was the pilot of STS-90 in 1998 and STS-106 in 2000, and was commander of the final two missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, STS-109 in 2002 and STS-125 in 2009.

Altman also performed other technical duties within the agency, including temporary duty to NASA Headquarters as deputy director of the Requirements Division of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Most recently, he served as chief of the Exploration Branch of the Astronaut Office."Scott has been a tremendous contribution to the astronaut corps and this agency," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office. "In his 15 years with NASA, he has performed flawlessly and demonstrated leadership in every position he's served. He will be greatly missed."

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Space Coast Task Force Delivers Economic Strategies Report

The President's Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development, co-chaired by NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, today released its report to President Barack Obama with recommendations to enhance economic development strategies along Florida's Space Coast. The task force was charged with developing a plan for how best to invest $40 million in transition assistance from the federal government in the Space Coast region as the space shuttle program winds down. Bolden, Locke, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and several other senior administration officials visited the region several times since the creation of the task force to meet with area workers and experts.

"Over the past few months, we have worked diligently with local government officials, economic development agencies and affected corporations and employees to develop a comprehensive plan that will create high-skill, high-wage jobs and a strong economic base in the Space Coast," Locke said. "Space is a key driver of the 21st century American economy, and that's why the president believes so strongly in empowering NASA to pursue new avenues of discovery." After review of the Space Coast's economic assets, employment needs, and development priorities, as well as suggestions submitted through a public website, the task force developed four key recommendations for the president.

The majority of the $40 million investment will be dedicated to a fast-track competitive grant process through Commerce's EDA. Thirty-five million dollars in grants will be awarded to the most promising job creation and economic development programs, with competition announced Sept. 1. The additional $5 million will fund a new Commercial Spaceflight Technical Center to support commercial space launch and reentry activities. "For decades, the dedicated members of the Space Coast workforce have used their wide-ranging talents to safely create, launch, and maintain some of the world's most complex aerospace and technical systems," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.