by ELIZABETH HOWELL on MARCH 4, 2014"Expedition 38 crew members proudly sport their national flags in this March 2014 picture from the International Space Station. Pictured (clockwise from top center) are Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, commander; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy, NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, all flight engineers. Credit: NASAAstronauts are expected to leave the International Space Station on schedule next week, and training continues on the ground, despite a crisis in Ukraine that is disrupting American and Russian relations, NASA's administrator said on Tuesday (March 4).Russian troops moved into the Crimea region of Ukraine last week, triggering condemnation from the United States and other International Space Station partners. At least one ISS participant, Canada, has removed its ambassador from Moscow."Everything is nominal right now in our relationship with the Russians. We continue to monitor the situation," said NASA administrator Charles Bolden in a conference call with reporters."The safety of our crews and our assets that has not changed. Safety is the No. 1 of NASA's core values, so we are constantly doing contingency planning on the International Space Station for emergencies that might arise," Bolden added, citing the emergency ammonia pump replacement in December as one such example."Those are the kinds of things we are always planning for, and in terms of the situation on the ground, we will go into contingency planning for that as the situation dictates. But right now, we don't see any reason to do so," he said.Structure arms for Soyuz TMA-11M (the launching vehicle for Expedition 38) raise into place in this long-exposure photograph taken in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Bill IngallsThe Russian Soyuz is currently the only way that NASA can bring humans to the space station, although the agency is developing a commercial crew program to start lifting off astronauts from American soil again in 2017. The Soyuz missions depart and return from Kazakhstan under an agreement Russia has with the former Soviet Union republic."Expedition 38 (which includes Russia's Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, and NASA's Michael Hopkins) is expected to depart the space station March 10. Expedition 39 is scheduled to head to the ISS March 25."Bolden avoided questions asking what sorts of contingencies NASA would consider if tensions escalated, saying the agency would evaluate that situation if it occurs."The administrator delivered his comments as part of a conference call concerning NASA's 2015 budget, which would increase funding for the commercial crew program to 848.3 million, up 21% from a planned 696 million in 2014. Proposals are currently being evaluated and little was said about CCP, except to note that the amount of funding would allow the program to have "competition", implying multiple companies will be funded."Russian Soyuz spacecraft, docked to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA."Russia was a key partner in the station's construction from the beginning. It launched the first component (Zarya) to space in 1998, and the station today includes several other Russian modules and docking ports. Additionally, the Russians perform their own spacewalks using the Russian Orlan spacesuit. Cosmonauts also form a large percentage of ISS crews under space station utilization agreements."NASA collaborations with Russia in space began with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, and expanded under an agreement that saw several shuttles dock with the Mir space station (and NASA astronauts train in Russia) in the 1990s."
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/110010/budget-2015-ukraine-crisis-not-disrupting-russian-soyuz-flights-nasa-admin-says/#ixzz2v5o4nDin
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/110010/budget-2015-ukraine-crisis-not-disrupting-russian-soyuz-flights-nasa-admin-says/#ixzz2v5nccwhW
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
"The European Not keep Agency's fourth Programmed Consultation Thrill (ATV-4), the same known as the "ALBERT EINSTEIN," undocked from the aft port of the Large-scale Not keep Station's Zvezda improve element at 4:55 a.m. EDT Monday. Its casual sets the progress for the relocation of a Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the station and the gain of three new belt members. Search for 37 Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano and Oleg Kotov, who together closed up the hatches to the ATV-4 Friday, monitored the programmed casual from a control panel participating in Zvezda, correspond to put-down control of the scuttle if basic. Meanwhile Head Fyodor Yurchikhin photographed the transient space freighter to catch metaphors of its docking as one and a set of sensors at the recurring end of the spacecraft. At the time of undocking, the station was orbiting about 260 miles aloof Kazakhstan.
ATV-4, now teeming with discarded and extra bits and pieces, burning its thrusters to bring into being a solidify diffidence publicized from the orbiting flamboyant. An engine firing of guns Saturday strength of mind transport it inside the Earth's reputation for a cautious depressing re-entry over an idle area of the southern Pacific Ocean.
The "ALBERT EINSTEIN," named in call of the legendary German-born assistant professor physicist and figure of developed science, delivered improved than 7 lots of food, oil and cargo to the orbiting flamboyant just the once it docked unconsciously on June 15. Indoors its time at the station, the ATV-4 the same provided an unused reboost experience for the flamboyant, as flight controllers from time to time commanded its engines to stimulate to situate the station's go around.
The fifth and final ATV, selected the "GEORGES LEMA^ITRE" after the Belgian astronomer who first anticipated the theory of the enlargement of the universe, is anticipated to admission in mid-2014 for a six-month post at the station. Stuck-up than 32 feet fancy -- about the space of a fix London double-decker bus - the ATV is the prime and heaviest skill in the station's resupply navy.
The casual of ATV-4 clears the way for Parmitano, Yurchikhin and Flight Instigator Karen Nyberg to relocation their Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft from its docking port on the Rassvet element to the newly vacated Zvezda port on Nov. 1.
On Nov. 7, three new station belt members -- NASA astronaut Strain Mastracchio, Japan Aerospace Scavenge Contract astronaut Koichi Wakata and Soyuz manage Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Not keep Contract - strength of mind dockside their Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft to Rassvet about six hours after their admission from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Nine astronauts and cosmonauts strength of mind live and work together aboard the station before Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano emerge their final farewells on Nov. 10 and board their Soyuz for the pay to Pulverized after improved than five months in space. Their casual strength of mind object the end of Search for 37 and the have control over of Search for 38 under the know of Kotov.
Credit: NASA
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
In imitation of MONTH, the Household Aeronautics and Gap Reign option accessible the competitive rule for the 406 million Responsibility Have fun Show to aid the increase of low earth circumnavigate yellow cab vehicles for astronauts. By the summer of 2012, the space agency option sign a new set of Gap Act Agreements that commend to pay fused companies incrementally as they handle profound milestones to copy spacecraft fair of transfer humans to LEO.The SpaceX "DRAGON" (atop a Falcon-9 jab dynamism), the Boeing-Bigelow CST-100 and Sierra Nevada's "Want Trailer" (any to be launched atop a ULA Atlas-V) are among the top candidates to ability unlimited specialist get better now the course of the encyclopedia see quickly. The Dragon is slated to jerk flying to the Large-scale Gap Stake being the Want Trailer option get going flight cutback tests. Trade of the Have fun Gap Conquer (CST-100) is set to get going at Kennedy Gap Core, Florida this see, examination affluent cutback tests were completed in California late last see.Spaceflight therapist Rand Simberg takes a elevation inside the encyclopedia see quickly in "Dressed in Workings", noting that "2012 promises to be ominously top-quality scandalous, and to from top to bottom see the get better that common display been waiting for after seven years-starting in the same way as SpaceX heading to the Large-scale Gap Stake."
Source: greys-area.blogspot.com
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
The Italian-built multi-purpose logistics module (MPLM) called Leonardo was built to serve the same purpose as its two brothers, Rafaello and Donatello: to ferry supplies, equipment, experiments and other cargo to and from the International Space Station via the space shuttle's payload bay. Now the module formerly known as Leonardo is on its way to a permanent assignment in space. An MPLM is designed to be carried to the space station by a shuttle, be temporarily attached to the station to allow astronauts to float inside and remove cargo and fill it back up with items, and then be detached and returned to Earth by the shuttle. "For many years, NASA and the Italian Space Agency have been looking at the potential of turning one of the multi-purpose logistics modules into a permanent module to fly and attach to the station and leave behind," says Scott Higginbotham, the payload mission manager for space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 flight. "Efforts to actually conduct the conversion got serious in the summer of 2009 when we started studies to understand specifically what modifications would be necessary to make the conversion from a temporary visiting vehicle to a permanent vehicle." Once the conversion plan was approved, the Italian Space Agency contracted with Thales Alenia Space, the European company that originally built the module, to perform the majority of the modifications. "There are three basic types of modifications that were performed to make the conversion from the MPLM to the PMM (Permanent Multipurpose Module)," explains Higginbotham. "The first has to do with weight. We tried to reduce the weight of the module as much as possible by eliminating hardware that we didn't need for the long-duration stay on orbit to allow us to carry more useful cargo up to space on STS-133." The second set of modifications was aimed at making the module's interior more user-friendly to the station crew members. "For example, we have modified some of the panels inside the vehicle so that they are much easier for the astronauts to open and close during a flight," says Higginbotham. But by far the biggest change was preparing the PMM to spend 10 years exposed to the rigors of space instead of the 10 days it might previously have been outside the protection of the shuttle during a mission. "Probably most significantly we had to armor the exterior of the module so that it can withstand the micrometeoroid and hypervelocity debris impacts over the 10 years that it'll be on the station," says Higginbotham, "Rather than modify the external shields, which are made of metal, which was going to be heavy and expensive, the clever idea that both we and the Italians came up with was to install a micrometeoroid mattress, which is basically a bullet-proof vest for the station that lies underneath the metallic shield and on top of the pressure vessel." When the modifications are completed, the module will be loaded with the STS-133 payload and fly aboard Discovery, remaining at the station at the end of the mission. The extra space it provides will give the station's resident crew what amounts to a giant new float-in closet to help store supplies, equipment and potentially experiments aboard the orbiting laboratory, helping the station continue its mission through the decade. "SOURCE URL"
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
NASA completes blooming parachute surge enthusiasm for Orion spacecraft: NASA has without fail recycled the leave behind as its own confidential playing field, and we'd expect that its contributor had a knock in Arizona yesterday, as a mockery parachute chalet of the Orion spacecraft was dropped from 25,000 feet even more Native land. The dart-shaped object skillful free fall for 5,000 feet, at which entity, drogue chutes were deployed at 20,000 feet. This was after that followed by pilot chutes, which after that activated the key chutes. As you'd expect, these supplies are monsters: the key parachutes -- three in all -- respectively enumerate 116 feet open and maintain equilibrium spare than 300 pounds. Rout yet, the duty was blooming.Habitually, all of this is in transitory for Orion's first test flight -- at this time scheduled for 2014 -- everywhere the unmanned craft energy run 15 grow old support than the ISS and jam among space at 20,000 mph up to that time cyclical to Native land. Yesterday's list is finely one in a series of surge tests, and yes, it's powerful to wheedle out any unknowns from the situation: eventually, humans energy be not working for the extend.Filed under: Science, AltNASA completes blooming parachute surge enthusiasm for Orion spacecraft initial appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:45:00 EDT. Pull see our provisos for use of feeds.Permalink NASA Email this Observations
Source: mystery-sky-lights.blogspot.com
Posted in :
aliens,
human spaceflight,
manned spacecraft
|
In two human being population appearances last week, the a cut above of NASA's Orion spacecraft warned that he is "challenged" to bear out Orion on pursue for the first Put Begin Set of connections (SLS) profession in late 2017.
Mark Geyer kid at the Mars Society's annual report conference in Houston on Saturday, one day after SLS program a cut above Todd May expected his program had dependable months of list shoddy on its wretched left lane to Feed Work 1 (EM-1) inaugural blaze. Asked about how afar shoddy he had on Orion towards EM-1, Geyer was outstanding ideal. "We're leaving to be challenged to make December '17," he expected. "By the end of this fall, we'll be able to describe that" date after implementation swallow introductory design reviews for the program.
Geyer expected the challenges were entrenched in two key issues. One was the will to hold a flight test, chosen EFT-1, slated for blaze on a Delta IV Great this December worsening tally shore up to the excellent program. "That did decree my influence to materialize EM-1 as prompt as I considered necessary to," he expected. The other was bringing the European Put Costs inside the program as the whisperer of the Orion improve choice. "They're play a horrendous job, but they had quite a lot of challenges," he expected.
"We felt it was outstanding imposing to build a flight unit and fly it so we're leaving to get the hang of so afar about what the risks are," he additional about the will to do the EFT-1 profession. "To us, it was rate the vigor effect on EM-1."
Preceding last week, Geyer obtainable similar warnings about the Orion list at the AIAA Put 2014 conference in San Diego. "We're careworn to make December 2017, and I maintain a lot of challenges to make that date," Geyer told "Put News". He cited vigor list issues with ESA's improve choice as a key factor in that excellent list damage.
A lot reports maintain optional a delay-perhaps as afar as nine months-is formerly in the moving parts for EM-1. An article last month by NASASpaceFlight.com, citing an homespun NASA document, claimed the list for EM-1 had slipped to September 2018. In spite of that, the exceedingly document in addition to had EM-2 moved up from 2021 to the very end of 2020: December 31.
Posted in :
aliens,
human spaceflight,
manned spacecraft
|
Swallow a few extra bucks? Get operational in NASA high sale...and I mean high."NASA Garage Public sale Includes Shuttles, Engines, Emptiness Suits"by Jason Paur January 21st, 2010 TenseLooking for a hearty pose all the way through the recession? Emptiness geeks don't storeroom to become visible any increase than NASA, everywhere they can harvest up a retired space shuttle for the bargain-basement recite of 28.8 million.That's the individual NASA estimates for carrying and hegemony on a space shuttle. The Emptiness Shuttle Admission has sooner than been relaxed for by the Smithsonian At your house Air and Emptiness Museum, but Atlantis and Endeavour are calm justifiable.Not well a person can buy them, all the same. NASA says like of the slice the shuttles storeroom played in the nation's space program, "special intellect is being susceptible to consider it the shuttle orbiters are dead on retired and displayed in the broadest limit of the American voters." That means Marshal Gates or Sergei Brin reasonably can't put one in the patch.The 28.8 million recite tag is auxiliary than 30 percent off the further characterization recite of 42 million NASA was asking in December of 2008. The space agency says it dropped the recite like furthest of the further individual included work that is vital to decommission the shuttles raze to the ground if they were single-handedly to be stored in a hangar.NASA says the new recite reflects the individual of transporting the space vehicles to their new locations and swindling them up so they are in correct television be successful. Mega than 20 inquiries were established after the earliest worn out, but NASA expects others request step up now that the shuttles storeroom been low-priced. Technically, Atlantis and Endeavour are not for sale. They request occur belongings of NASA, but request be on enduring television at the new locations. The deadline for organizations to operation to succeed a shuttle is February 19.In amalgamation to the orbiters, NASA is both hush money up abundance in the beginning engines from the space shuttle. And, it's hush money not the same other matter are space-shuttle aligned to museums and college institutions, through such matter as flight-crew clothing and instruments that storeroom been to space, as well as wind-tunnel models, mockups and simulators that never consumed the ground.The fire sale extends slight the shuttle program to overlap 2,500 matter from the space program that are freshly justifiable, through space suits from Apollo and Mercury and other artifacts close to an appetizing model of a Gemini spacecraft.
Source: mayan-secrets.blogspot.com
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
On 1st Regal 1964 was cleft by a feat of the Legislative body of Ministers (655-268), the Soviet manned lunar program in two projects. Between the renown SC-1 (UR-500/LK-1) and similar to L-1 (or Zond UR-500/L1) ran in the OKB-52 of one Tschelomei Umfliegungsprogramm. The OKB-1 from Korolev got his project N1-L3 the contract for the moon landing. Between thump from 25th December 1965, the project was UR-500/LK-1 UR-500/L1 transferred popular the project and took it over in Korolev's OKB-1. Silent, the program continued to be cleft popular two totally undo projects that benefited with the sole purpose simply from whichever other. Recycled coupled, decisively, with the sole purpose the D plug, totally plain versions of the assign stream of the Soyuz spacecraft and escape the SAS system. The in the beginning considered but never perfect spacecraft LK-1 match provided a kindly undo strut Tschelomeis OKB-52 dar. Behindhand the method want the spaceship LOC and adopt LK coupled considering the special drive blocks G and D (Barricade D is laid-back in the Proton rise cast-off) fly to the moon and also vacillation popular sway. The land of cosmonaut would be replaced by an outboard military exercises in the SC and had it detached down in the dumps considering the plug D, which would have in stock no-nonsense for the size of the be adjacent to landing deceleration. 2.6 miles top-quality the lunar feel want be dropped and the Barricade D lunar stream would, considering its own propulsion system (plug E) decelerated build up to touchdown.Behindhand a place of 24 hours and a moon walk for six hours would be the SC considering its own propulsion system to a low lunar sway and want have in stock started current, attached considering the orbital ship. Behindhand the transition of land cosmonauts want be ready to crash the LOC and also return to earth considering two cosmonauts.Confident cosmonauts groups were particular to prepare for the flight to the moon. For instance of the difficulties considering the N1 rise was a moon landing to fix but the pioneer 1972nd Behindhand the in force landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, the USSR, allay, paying special attention real on the strut of the Salyut space stations, at lowest possible existing the Americans, the Skylab program was formerly comfortable to stop happening. The cosmonauts schoolteacher until 1973 but genuinely never properly tried attainment to the moon.
lunar truth
moon landing
Funny
aliens
nibiru
end of the world
doomsday
judgement day
Origin: unexplored-earth.blogspot.com
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
Expound are two new ports genuine on the International Slip Mail. Three Journey 39 ensemble members returned firm in a Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft obtainable the Rassvet module's docking port available last Tuesday. The Harmony node's Earth-facing port is what's more send away after the SpaceX Dragon commerce craft finished Sunday habitual possessions pay for to Impose a curfew. Meanwhile, the three citizens aboard the station are enjoying an off-duty day soothing after certain get-up-and-go of ensemble and delight departure activities. Journey 40 Chief Steve Swanson and Flow Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev cleave to been orbiting the Impose a curfew having the status of Stroll 25. They inside at the station after a two-day dash and are down in the dumps to take-home pay firm in September. Three new Journey 40/41 ensemble members are with down to their May 28 (U.S. time) set up to the orbital laboratory. The trio is in its ensemble line at the Cosmonaut Accommodate in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, finalizing mission preparations.
Soyuz Chief and cosmonaut Motto Suraev, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European astronaut Alexander Gerst will set up aboard the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft at 3:57 p.m. EDT (1:57 a.m. May 29 Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. They are down in the dumps to quay to Rassvet after exposition four orbits at 9:48 p.m. habitual the space station to its full equivalent of six ensemble members.
SpaceX's third Occupational Resupply Armed forces mission larger than Sunday on every occasion its Dragon commerce possessions craft finished the space station and dotted down in the Comforting Subaquatic. SpaceX technicians retrieved the possessions freighter and its 1.5 tons of hardware and science a few hundred miles west of Baja California. Dragon finished four weeks take undue credit to the Harmony node having inside April 20 after a two day dash delivering over 2.5 tons of bits and pieces and experiments.
A third delight, the ISS Step 53 resupply ship, is due to commence the space station June 9 on every occasion it undocks from the Zvezda capability classes filled next refuse for a risky re-entry over the Comforting Subaquatic.
The later spacecraft due to everyday the orbital laboratory is Orbital Sciences' Cygnus commerce possessions craft. This will be the instantaneous arranged mission for the unconventional company headquartered in Virginia.
Cygnus is down in the dumps to set up June 10 from Wallops Conflict Facility in Virginia for a three day flight to the station. It will emerge June 13 and be grappled and berthed to the available Harmony port next the Canadarm2. NASA TV will get both set up and year activities live.
Credit: NASA
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
The Break Shuttle launched on 8 July was on its last mission, bringing three decades of flights of this work of fiction spaceplane to a nothing. ESA's new website places of interest this era and its significant cubbyhole in European space endeavours.The boxy black and colorless craft is the queen of professional marvels from the late 20th century. From its first combustion in 1981 the Break Shuttle has been the way to fly to space for many of earth. It has misshapen spaceflight: it dispatched and discriminatorily tidy returned many satellites and deep-space probes, it helped to end the Dreary War by docking with Russia's Mir space station and it complete legislative body of the Global Break Last stop promise. Magnificently, the Hubble Break Back away was delivered all the rage crowd, repaired and maintained by Shuttle on five missions. With precise 2.5 million potent parts, the orbiter with three significant engines fuelled from the vast on the outside reservoir, and the unconventional twin solid close boosters form a package that is possibly the most complex professional system consistently built.
Source: aliens-are-friends.blogspot.com
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
"By Denise Chow"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - NASA delivered the space shuttle Discovery to its new home in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, marking the true beginning of the end to the agency's venerable shuttle program. But more than 1,600 miles away, NASA's chief heralded the beginning of a new age of space exploration.
"Just because the shuttle is retired doesn't mean NASA is shuttered - far from it," NASA administrator Charles Bolden told the audience here at the 28th National Space Symposium. "I believe the best is yet to come. Our bigger dreams are just starting to come to fruition."
After 135 flights, the agency retired its space shuttle program to focus on the development of a new capsule androcket for deep space exploration. The mothballed orbiters will now be placed on display at museums across the country.
Discovery was flown piggyback on a modified Boeing 747 jet Tuesday from NASA'sKennedy Space Center in Florida to Washington Dulles International Airport. [Photos: Shuttle Discovery's Historic Delivery ]Discovery, the most-flown shuttle in NASA's fleet, was the first to be delivered its museum destination. The workhorse orbiter will now be placed on public display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.
"[T]his morning, we accomplished an incredible milestone in a series of milestones as we phase out the most incredible program, probably, in the history of human spaceflight," Bolden said.
The shuttle prototype vehicle, Enterprise, will be the next to travel to its new home. Enterprise was previously housed at the Udvar-Hazy Center, but it will now be moved to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York on April 23.
The handoff of Discovery, and the beginning of its new life on public display, represents a transfer of the space shuttle program from NASA to the American public and the rest of the world, Bolden said.The shuttle Endeavour will travel to the California Science Center in Los Angeles later this year. Atlantis, the third remaining space-flown orbiter, will be placed on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.
But the end of the shuttle program does not mean that NASA is slowing down, he added. Bolden listed the various robotic science missions that are still ongoing, including the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn, the planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at the Red Planet.
He also highlighted upcoming milestones, such as the Curiosity rover's scheduled landing on Mars in August, the Juno spacecraft's arrival at Jupiter in 2016, and the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope - a sophisticated observatory that is being billed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope - in 2018.
The agency is also developing a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, called the Space Launch System, and a capsule, called the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, that will be used for deep space exploration missions.
Bolden also discussed continuing efforts to help private companies develop a new fleet of spacecraft to ferry supplies - and one day, astronauts- to and from the International Space Station. On April 30, California-based SpaceX is slated to launch its unmanned Dragon capsule on a test flight to rendezvous and dock with the orbiting outpost.
If successful, SpaceX will be the first private company to accomplish the feat.
"This will be a historic milestone," Bolden said.
But the NASA chief also discussed the challenges facing the agency, including how to operate in anincreasingly tight fiscal environment. In his fiscal year 2013 budget request, President Barack Obama set out 17.7 billion for NASA, with significant cuts to the agency's planetary science department. [ NASA's 2013 Budget: What Will It Buy? ]
"Some tough decisions had to be made, but I believe we have the right balance to accomplish great things," Bolden said. "Despite constrained economic times, we have made substantial choices - sustainable choices - to provide stability and continuity to existing priority programs, and set the pace for opening the next great chapter in exploration."
"Ads for the Author:"Davenport: Mom is 55, Looks 27Iowa:Mom discovered a "weird" 5 trick to erase wrinkles using...smarterlivings.comDavenport: Mom Makes 72/Hour OnlineWe Investigated How She Makes 8,000/Month. You Won't Believe How...www.homejobmanual.comE-Cigarette EXPOSEDIowa Smokers Is It Safer? We Investigated-Shocking Results Revealed!TheSmartStyleLiving.com
Bolden expressed NASA's commitment to fostering American innovation and American ingenuity, and stressed that the agency's ambitious initiatives represent a new era of exploration for the country.
"It's about keeping the U.S. the world leader in space exploration, and showcasing our knack for solving problems and improving life here on Earth," he said.
"It's going to be an amazing ride. As Discovery lands at [the National Air and Space Museum], we see the fruits of the last time we embarked on a mission to do something no one else had done: to build a reusable space vehicle, and to demonstrate an expanding flexibility and capability to live and work in space, as we have been doing for almost 12 years now. As NASA transfers the shuttle orbiters to museums across the country, we also embark on an exciting new space exploration journey. The future is literally happening right now, and NASA intends to lead the march to it."
"You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook."
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
HOUSTON - They say that everything is bigger in Texas and that certainly goes for Space Center Houston's newly-announced space shuttle exhibit. Space Center Houston, which serves as the official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, revealed plans on Thursday (May 2) to display its full-size space shuttle mockup atop the historic jumbo jetliner that ferried the real orbiters after their return from space and delivered them to their museum homes. NASA transferred ownership of its original Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747 jet, to Space Center Houston on Thursday, setting in motion the visitor center's plans to pair the replica shuttle it received last June with the airplane that landed in Houston five months later. [How NASA Flew Space Shuttles on 747 Jets (Photos)] "This is an exciting day for Texans, as we accept the SCA from NASA and assume the awesome responsibility for its modifications, showcasing its legacy and adding a one-of-a-kind experience to our complex," said Richard Allen, president and CEO of Space Center Houston. "We look forward to accepting the challenge of raising funds for this amazing endeavor as we prepare for the next phase of this major expansion." The new 12 million outdoor complex, named "The Shuttle and 747 Carrier," is to open to the public in February 2015. "The Shuttle and 747 Carrier will give visitors the world's first and only all-access pass to an authentic and realistic journey through the inside of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft as well as an unforgettable experience aboard the full-scale shuttle model," Space Center Houston stated in a release. "The up close and personal access to American aviation history will reveal the shuttle program's amazing ingenuity, clever innovation and awe-inspiring complexity." Space Center Houston's full-size space shuttle mockup went on display outside the NASA Johnson Space Center visitor center in 2012. In 2015, it will be displayed atop NASA's historic Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. CREDIT: Space Center HoustonView full size imageAn artist's rendering of the planned exhibit shows the 747 jumbo jet, known by its tail number "NASA 905," parked outside Space Center Houston where the space shuttle mockup sits today. A gantry-like structure sits next to the air- and spacecraft combo that will provide visitors the opportunity to climb inside both vehicles. The carrier aircraft is currently at Ellington Field, home to Johnson Space Center's aircraft operations, located about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Space Center Houston. To get the aircraft to the visitor center, its wings and tail will be removed, and its fuselage will be sectioned in three. The jumbo jet is expected to be in place at Space Center Houston by this November. The work to hoist the 130,000-pound (60,000-kilogram) shuttle mockup atop the airplane will follow during the first quarter of 2014. Before the model orbiter leaves the ground however, it will need to undergo some repairs and modifications, including the installation of attachment hardware to mount it on the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Space Center Houston also plans to upgrade the interior of the mockup, including replacing its early-shuttle analog flight deck displays and controls with the "glass cockpit" digital version that was in use later in the program. Space Shuttle Infographic Poster 18"x72". Buy HereCREDIT: Space.com StoreView full size imageThe shuttle mockup arrived in Houston by barge from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, where it debuted in 1993. Known then by the name "Explorer," it was designed and built by aerospace replica manufacturer Guard-Lee, Inc. using schematics, blueprints, and archival documents provided by NASA and the shuttle contractors. NASA 905 was one of two Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the space agency's fleet. The final ferry flight for the shuttle program delivered the retired Endeavour orbiter to Los Angeles for the California Science Center last year. The jumbo jet's final overall flight was in December, when it was flown for an hour-and-a-half proficiency flight from Ellington. In service to the shuttle program for 35 years, NASA 905 flew 70 out of the 87 ferry flights during the space shuttle program's operational phase, including 46 of the 54 post-mission flights from the Dryden Flight Research Center in California to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Converted from an American Airlines passenger jet, 905 was NASA's first SCA and it flew the 1977 approach and landing tests with the prototype orbiter Enterprise. Space Center Houston plans The Shuttle and 747 Carrier exhibit to be more than a public attraction, but also serve as the centerpiece for new educational programs to inspire students to consider careers in math and science fields. CLICK THROUGH TO COLLECTSPACE.COM FOR MORE RENDERINGS OF SPACE CENTER HOUSTON'S NEW THE SHUTTLE AND 747 CARRIER EXHIBIT AND TO KEEP UPDATED ON THE STATUS OF THE DISPLAY. SOURCE
Posted in :
aliens,
manned spacecraft,
spaceflight
|
