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kl90

神舟七号获得圆满成功　翟志刚艰辛三步刻入历史

人民网9月28日内蒙古四子王旗电 （赵亚辉 唐振宇）17时38分，夕阳西照，彩霞满天。神舟七号飞船返回舱在红白相间的巨大降落伞托带下，安然降落在内蒙古阿木古朗草原，航天员翟志刚、刘伯明、景海鹏平安健康返回。

　　18时22分，率先出舱的翟志刚迈出最踏实的一步，这一迈饱含着对祖国的眷恋。

　　经历了三天的太空洗礼，双脚重新稳稳矗立在祖国的大地上，没有失重的感觉，只有成功的喜悦。历史在这里定格：我国第三次载人航天飞行任务在美丽的草原上印下一个完美惊世的句号。

　　经过约30分钟的地球重力适应后，三名航天员状态恢复良好，依次自主出舱。面对返回舱前的搜救队员和记者，他们频频点头微笑、不断挥手致意。

　　三人并排坐到返回舱前的三把简易座椅上，翟志刚铿锵地说：“我们顺利的完成了这次载人航天飞行任务，刚刚返回到地面，昨天，中国航天员进行了首次出舱活动，使命光荣，充满挑战，结果圆满，我为祖国感到骄傲！”

　　“向祖国和人民，敬礼！” 在刘伯明、景海鹏简短发言之后，翟志刚发出口令，三人以一个标准有力的军礼，献给祖国和人民，献给脚下这片七次承载神舟着陆的土地。

　　时光回溯，此前72个小时，42岁的翟志刚迈出了最执着的一步，这一迈凝结着百折不挠的勇气。

　　从酒泉的航天发射场脐带塔进入飞船，这位神七乘组指令长这一步，记录了中国航天员大队成立10年的发展历程，记录了他和13名战友刻苦训练近3900个日日夜夜的艰辛与汗水，记录了他神五、神六两次入选梯队、两次止步飞船的遗憾。

　　这一步是执著的胜利，是坚持的结果。翟志刚，胸怀大志，意志如钢。

　　时光回溯，此前26个小时，身着国产“飞天”舱外航天服的翟志刚迈出了最具挑战的一步，这一迈诠释了中华民族探索的新高度。

　　像43年前完成人类首次太空行走的前苏联航天员列昂诺夫一样，翟志刚的这一步并不轻松。在距地343公里的太空轨道上，沉重的舱门、虚报的火警，都不能阻止五星红旗在太空中高高“飘扬”。

　　在刘伯明、景海鹏的直接协助下，在3000多个参研参试单位的协同下，在数十万人员的共同努力下，翟志刚圆满完成了空间出舱活动，取回固体润滑材料试验装置。

　　我国从此成为世界上第三个独立掌握空间出舱技术的国家，迈出太空交会对接、建立空间站的下一步，不再遥远。

kl90

http://scitech.people.com.cn/GB/132659/134832/8123616.html
组图：神舟七号飞船安全着陆　航天员自主出舱









月28日下午5时38分，神舟七号载人飞船返回舱在内蒙古四子王旗阿木古朗草原成功着陆，航天员平安健康，自主出舱。（记者　赵亚辉摄影报道）

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 30-9-2008 06:39 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS02
Hubble servicing mission on hold

NASA's fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission is being delayed until at least mid-February so that a critical spare computer can be launched to the observatory, officials said Monday.

Next up as a result: the Nov. 14 launch of Endeavour on an International Space Station outfitting mission, two days ahead of schedule.

NASA had hoped to launch Atlantis on Oct. 14 on a mission to install two new Hubble science instruments, resuscitate two other pieces, and equip the telescope to enable it to operate through at least 2013.

But a microprocessor that routes commands to Hubble's main flight computer and science instruments failed Saturday, forcing NASA to shut down science observations.

A backup computer is to be activated this week, enabling NASA to restart science observations. But the telescope still will be vulnerable, so NASA decided to delay the last Hubble servicing mission.

"If we are going to do this final servicing mission, and spend the money involved, and launch seven astronauts, we thought it would be proper due diligence if we assured that this mission would leave Hubble with a good, solid five- or six- or seven-year future," said Ed Weiler, NASA's space science chief.

NASA might have lucked out.

"Think about if this failure had happened two weeks after the servicing mission," Weiler said. "We could have lost the mission in six, 12 or 18 months. So in some sense, if this had to happen, it couldn't have happened at a better time."

Atlantis will be moved back to the Vehicle Assembly Building from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A.

Endeavour, which is on Launch Complex 39B, will be moved to 39A, the agency's prime shuttle pad. The roll-around will enable NASA to continue converting pad 39B for the first test flight next year of its new Ares 1 moon rocket.

John Shannon, NASA shuttle program manager, said the Atlantis astronauts -- who just survived Hurricane Ike -- took the news in stride.

"This is just one of those things that comes with spaceflight, and I think the crew is very stoic," he said. "And they'll be ready to go fly when the hardware is ready to go fly."

Weiler put the problem in perspective, saying it's not nearly as serious as the post-launch discovery in 1990 that the telescope's primary mirror had been ground to the wrong prescription. That problem rendered the telescope nearsighted. Hubble became a national joke, until the myopia could be corrected during a December 1993 repair mission.

"This is nothing compared to spherical aberration," Weiler said. "I mean, this whole program was declared dead in 1990. . . . Not only did we survive it, we came out as the 'Great American Comeback Story.'

"Hubble has a habit of coming back from adversity," he added, "and the Hubble team -- which includes the shuttle team -- works miracles. And you know, I'm not too concerned about this. We'll find a way to get this fixed."
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SpaceX reaches orbit with Falcon I

SpaceX has been successful on its fourth launch attempt of the Falcon 1 rocket from the central Pacific.

"With this key milestone, Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth," read a company statement.

"This is a great day for SpaceX and the culmination of an enormous amount of work by a great team," said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, who made his fortune as an Internet entrepreneur. "The data shows we achieved a super precise orbit insertion -middle of the bull's-eye - and then went on to coast and restart the second stage, which was icing on the cake."

Designed from the ground up by SpaceX, the Falcon I lifted off at 7:15 p.m. (EDT ) from Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll, about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii.



Preliminary data indicates that Falcon 1 achieved an elliptical orbit of 500 km by 700 km, 9.2 degrees inclination, exactly as targeted.

Falcon 1 carried a 364-pound payload mass simulator designed and built by SpaceX. The payload remains attached to the second stage as it orbits Earth.

This was the second flight for the new SpaceX-developed Merlin 1C regeneratively-cooled engine. A "hold before liftoff" system was used to enhance reliability by permitting all launch systems to be verified as functioning nominally before launch was initiated, according to a SpaceX Web site. A single SpaceX-developed Kestrel engine powered the Falcon 1 second stage.
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Leaders Meet For Space Legislative Forum

Political leaders and and space industry representatives will gather this morning in Cocoa to discuss a legislative agenda that advances the state's space interests.

The Florida Space and Technology Forum, which is free and open to the public, runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Florida Solar Energy Center, 1679 Clearwater Road. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m.

Featured guests and speakers include Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, Kennedy Space Center Director Bill Parsons, and numerous space industry representatives.

State Senator Mike Haridopolos and Rep. Dean Cannon are forum co-chairs.

Congressmen Tom Feeney and Dave Weldon could not attend because of a pending vote on a proposed Wall St. bailout package today in Washington.

Click "Read more" to see a complete list of forum participants provided by organizers, and check The Flame Trench later for updates on the discussion.

Special Presentations by:
· Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp
· Bill Parsons, Director, Kennedy Space Center

Public Policy Panel:
· Congressman Tom Feeney
· Congressman Dave Weldon
· Senator Mike Haridopolos
· Senator Bill Posey
· Representative Sandy Adams
· Representative Thad Altman
· Representative Dean Cannon
· Representative Ralph Poppell
· Representative Steve Precourt
· Representative Tony Sasso

Business and Industry Presenters:
· Gwendolyn Anello, Vice President Education and Research, Zero Gravity Corporation
· David Bethay, Director of Constellation Transition, Boeing Florida Operations
· Barney Bishop, President and CEO, Associated Industries of Florida
· Frank DiBello, CEO, ITV Group
· Dr. James Fenton, Director, Florida Solar Energy Center
· George Hauer, Vice President and Director of KSC Operations, Wyle Laboratories
· Marshall Heard, Chairman, Florida Aviation Aerospace Alliance
· Steve Kohler, President, Space Florida
· Adrian Laffitte, Director/Florida Government Relations, Lockheed Martin Corporation
· Pedro J. Medelius, Ph.D., Associate Program Manager, Chief Scientist, ASRC Aerospace Corporation
· Mark Nappi, Vice President/Launch and Recovery Systems, Florida Site Executive, United Space Alliance
· Rick Navarro, Delta II Program Director, United Launch Alliance
· Len Phillips, Director of Launch Infrastructure, ATK Launch Systems
· Jacob Stuart, President, Central Florida Partnership
· Roy Tharpe, SGS Deputy Chief of Operations, Northrop Grumman
· Lynda Weatherman, President and CEO, Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast

Moderator:
Speaker John Thrasher
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Software billionaire plans 2nd space station trip

VIENNA, Va. — A space company says a software billionaire plans to become the first private traveler to make a second trip to space.

Sixty-year-old Charles Simonyi flew to the International Space Station with a Russian crew in April 2007. The 13-day trip cost him $25 million.

Vienna, Virginia-based Space Adventures says Simonyi now plans to go back with another Russian rocket in 2009.

It did not say how much Simonyi will pay. Simonyi is a software engineer who helped develop Microsoft Word and Excel.

Space Adventures first launched a private client into space in 2001. Its sixth client is due to fly to space Oct 12. That client is Richard Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 1-10-2008 06:37 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS02
Ex-astronaut will head KSC

Bob Cabana toured NASA's massive Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building 38 years ago, a young Navy midshipman awed by the enormity of Saturn 5 moon rockets on the eve of the Apollo 13 launch.

Then a 21-year-old honors student on a field trip, the future Hall of Fame astronaut couldn't have guessed he was destined to direct the nation's primary spaceport, as NASA winds down its shuttle program and revs up an American return to the moon.

"We had the 'gold badge tour,' and I remember walking through the VAB in the spring of 1970 with those Saturn 5 rockets stacked up to go to the moon," Cabana, 59, said Tuesday.

"I never dreamed I'd be an astronaut. You know, I held those guys in such high esteem," he said. "But I surely never dreamed I would be the director of Kennedy Space Center."

Now the director of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss., Cabana will take the helm at KSC in mid-
October, while his predecessor pursues a private-sector opportunity with a company that does classified work for the Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies.

Current KSC Director Bill Parsons, 51, will take a job with Lockheed Martin Mission Services, which specializes in space and defense work that often requires what's known as Special Compartmented Information clearances from the federal government.

It's a world Parsons is familiar with. He worked on classified Department of Defense shuttle payloads early in his career before joining NASA in 1990.

The opportunity with Lockheed Martin came up, and Parsons decided he had reached the point in his career where he needed to decide whether to remain with NASA until retirement or pursue private-sector opportunities.

He opted for the latter.

"It was a very personal decision. It was a very difficult decision," Parsons said. "It just felt like it was the right thing to do, so I decided to go ahead and accept their offer, and let other people have a chance at running the Kennedy Space Center."

Parsons makes $168,000 a year as KSC director.

A veteran shuttle pilot and mission commander with four flights in space, Cabana has equally impressive experience in human space flight management positions.

He served as NASA chief astronaut, director of Flight Crew Operations, manager of international operations for the International Space Station program, director of NASA operations in Russia and deputy director of the International Space Station program.

Cabana also has served in "city manager"-type positions: He was deputy director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston before taking the center director post at Stennis.

"Bob has seen it all and done it all in human spaceflight, and done it with an open, collaborative style," NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said in a statement. "There is just no better teammate. He will be a terrific successor to Bill Parsons as director of KSC."

Parsons agreed. He's known Cabana -- who was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame earlier this year -- for two decades, and thinks NASA could not have made a better pick.

"Bob Cabana is one of the finest. He will do a fantastic job," Parsons said. "I'm very, very happy that Bob has decided to take this on."

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 1-10-2008 06:37 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS02
STS-129 Crew Assigned

NASA has assigned the crew for shuttle Discovery's STS-129 mission, which is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in October 2009 on a flight to deliver parts to the International Space Station.

According to a NASA press release today, Marine Col. Charlie Hobaugh - pictured at left as pilot of STS-118 last year - will command the mission.

Navy Capt. Barry Wilmore will serve as the pilot. Mission Specialists are Robert Satcher, Navy Capt. Michael Foreman, Marine Lt. Col. Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips to space.

The mission will return Canadian Space Agency astronaut and station crew member Robert Thirsk to Earth. This is slated to be the final space shuttle crew rotation flight to or from the space station.

Click "Read more" for more details about the crew. Click here to read NASA's astronaut biographies.

Hobaugh flew as the pilot on STS-104 in 2001 and STS-118 in 2007. He was born in Bar Harbor, Maine. Hobaugh earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996.

Wilmore was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and grew up in Mt. Juliet. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Tennessee Technological University, and a master's degree in aviation systems from University of Tennessee. He was selected as an astronaut in 2000.

Foreman was born in Columbus, Ohio, but considers Wadsworth his hometown. He earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Foreman flew as a mission specialist on STS-123 in 2008 and performed three
spacewalks. He was selected as an astronaut in 1998.

Satcher was selected as an astronaut in 2004. He earned a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also is a graduate of Harvard Medical School. He was born in Hampton, Va.

Bresnik, also selected as an astronaut in 2004. He was born in Fort Knox, Ky., but considers Santa Monica, Calif., his hometown. Bresnik earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from The Citadel and a master's degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee.

Melvin flew as a mission specialist on the STS-122 mission in 2008. He was born in Lynchburg, Va. Melvin earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Richmond and a master's degree in materials science engineering from the University of Virginia. He was selected as an astronaut in 1998.

Thirsk will be concluding his long-duration stay on the station when STS-129 launches. He is scheduled to arrive at the complex in May 2009 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and serve as a flight engineer during parts of Expeditions 20 and 21.

IMAGE NOTE: Click on the image to enlarge it. Astronaut Charlie Hobaugh, STS-118 pilot, pauses for a photo while working the controls of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) or Canadarm2 in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station, while shuttle Endeavour remains docked with the station. Hobaugh has been assigned to command the STS-109 mission targeted to launch in October 2009. Photo credit: NASA.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 1-10-2008 06:37 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS02
1st "repeat" space tourist in training

An American billionaire is aiming to become the first space tourist to launch on a repeat flight to the International Space Station.

Charles Simonyi, who led the effort to develop the ubiquitous Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel software programs, will begin training to launch again on a weeklong trip to the international outpost next April.

The former boyfriend of domestic goddess Martha Stewart, Simonyi flew to the space station in April 2007 and is a paying a reported $30 million to return under the outpost under a commercial contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The contract was arranged by Space Adventures, a Virginia company that brokers agreements to launch what NASA now calls "spaceflight participants" to the station.

Company client Dennis Tito became the first "tourist" to fly to the station in 2001, and four others -- including Simonyi -- have flown since.

Officials with Space Adventures said Simonyi's return trip demonstrates the strength of the market for space tourism.

"Having a repeat orbital client demonstrates to the world that participating in a space mission is truly a magnificent and awe-inspiring experience. It is also an excellent example that the marketplace is even larger than previously anticipated because of the potential occurrence of clients who fly on multiple occasions," Space Adventures President and CEO Eric Anderson said in a statement. "We congratulate Charles on his continued commitment to commercial spaceflight. We look forward to assisting him in preparation for the spring 2009 mission."

The company's sixth orbital spaceflight client, Richard Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, is currently scheduled to launch to the ISS on October 12. He'll join up there with station commander Sergei Volkov, the son of Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov. It will be the first time second-generation space explorers have traveled together in orbit.

A native of Hungary, Simonyi has been enchanted with spaceflight since he was a youngster. He represented his native nation as a junior cosmonaut during a trip to Moscow at age 13.

Simonyi documented his first trip to the station at his web site: charlesinspace.com.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 1-10-2008 06:37 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS02
Atlantis Roll Back Targeted Oct. 20

Atlantis is tentatively scheduled to return to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Oct. 20, allowing Endeavour to take over launch pad 39A five days later.

This weekend, workers will begin undoing electrical connections between Atlantis and the highly sensitive cargo it will take to the Hubble Space Telescope early next year.

A technical failure on the telescope last weekend forced postponement of the mission - previously set to launch Oct. 14 from Kennedy Space Center - until February at the earliest.

The Hubble payload is expected on be transferred Tuesday from Atlantis' payload bay to the changeout room at pad 39A, where it will be readied for its trip back to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility a week later.

The cargo, contained in four carriers, must be carefully bagged to prevent contamination while it is transported in a giant canister.

"The Hubble payload is an order of magnitude more sensitive to contamination than a space station payload, so extra precautions are necessary," said George Diller, a space center spokesman.

If payload processing goes according to schedule, Atlantis would be rolled back to the assembly building Oct. 20 on its mobile launch platform, reversing the 3.5-mile journey it made to the launch pad on Sept. 4.

Then, on Oct. 25, Endeavour would be moved about a mile south from pad 39B to take Atlantis' place on 39A.

Endeavour's launch on a space station outfitting mission is targeted for Nov. 16, though shuttle managers think they could be ready by Nov. 14.

Officials will continue to review plans for the shuttle moves Friday and could make adjustments.
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Update: Hubble on hold until February

NASA's fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission isn't likely to fly before mid-February and could be grounded until next spring so that a critical spare computer can be launched to the observatory, officials said today.


"We've more or less made that decision," NASA science chief Ed Weiler told reporters in a teleconference this evening.

"If we are going to do this final servicing mission and spend the money involved and launch seven astronauts, we thought it would be proper due diligence if we assured that this mission would leave Hubble with a good solid five- or six- or seven-year future."

NASA was aiming to launch Atlantis and seven astronauts on a Hubble servicing mission on Oct. 14, but those plans were dashed when a critical computer failed over the weekend. The failure forced NASA to temporarily shut down science observations until a back-up could be pressed into service.

NASA flight controllers are taking a cautious approach to turning on the back-up unit because it has never been used in space. The prime unit has been operating since the telescope was launched in 1990.

The computer in question is called a Control Unit/Science Data Formatter. It formats and sends commands to the observatory's main flight control computer as well as its science instruments, and science observations cannot be carried out unless it is operating properly.

NASA expects to switch to the back-up unit and restore science observations within the next two weeks. But the telescope still would be vulnerable to single failures. If the back-up unit or any of five linked electronics components failed, then the telescope would be rendered useless.

"If we lose those then the game is over," NASA Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch said.

Weiler said the failure could be the proverbial blessing in disguise.

"There have been a lot of ups and downs on Hubble. But one way to look at this is it was not necessarily a knuckleball. It was a high hard one we maybe will be able to hit over the fence," he said.

"I mean, think about the other option. Think about if this failure had happened two weeks after the servicing mission. We would have just put two new instruments in and thought we had extended the life for five or 10 years, and this thing failed after the last shuttle mission to Hubble," Weiler added.

"We could have lost the mission in six, 12 or 18 months. So in some sense, if this had to happen, it couldn't have happened at a better time."

NASA decided to delay the mission until a ground testing unit can be qualified for flight. That process is expected to take a couple of months. Burch said the earliest the spare could be delivered to Kennedy Space Center likely is early January. A mid-February launch is the earliest one he could envision.

So NASA is aiming to proceed with the planned Nov. 16 launch of Endeavour on an International Space Station outfitting mission. Shuttle progam managers are looking at moving that launch up to Nov. 14.

NASA is facing a Nov. 25 deadline to get the mission aloft. The sun angle on the station between Nov. 26 and Dec. 17 will be such that the station will not be able to generate enough electrical power or dispel enough heat to accomodate a docked shuttle orbiter.

Shuttle Discovery now is slated to launch in mid-February on a mission to haul up the fourth and final set of massive American solar wings to the station, and the Russians plan a crew rotation mission to the outpost next April. The sun angle on the station also will be a problem next May. So NASA might opt to proceed with the Discovery mission in February and then launch the Hubble mission in the spring.

NASA Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon said the Atlantis astronauts, who survived Hurricane Ike earlier this month and now face a lengthy delay, took the news in stride.

"This is just one of those things that comes with spaceflight, and I think the crew is very stoic," he said. "And they will be ready to go fly when the hardware is ready to go fly."

Weiler tried to put the problem in perspective. He said it is nowhere near as serious as the post-launch discovery that the telescope's primary mirror had been ground to the wrong prescription.

The spherical abberation rendered Hubble nearsighted, and the project became a national joke until the myopia was corrected during a make-or-break repair mission in December 1993.

"This is nothing compared to spherical aberattion. I mean, this whole program was declared dead in 1990 -- it would never survive it. Not only did we survive it, but we came out as the Great American Comeback story," Weiler said.

"Hubble has a habit of coming back from adversity, and the Hubble team -- which includes the shuttle team -- works miracles. And you know, I'm not too concerned about this," Weiler said. "We'll find a way to get this fixed."

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 3-10-2008 12:04 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS02
Parsons set to depart KSC Director Post

This Just In From NASA:

CABANA TO SUCCEED PARSONS AS KENNEDY SPACE CENTER DIRECTOR

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA announced Tuesday that William Parsons,
director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is leaving
the agency in mid-October to pursue opportunities in the private
sector. Parsons will be succeeded by former astronaut Robert Cabana,
currently director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in
Mississippi.

Gene Goldman, Stennis' deputy director, will become the acting center
director.

Parsons, who joined NASA in 1990, also has served as director of
Stennis. His other NASA assignments have included launch site support
manager, manager of the Space Station Hardware Integration Office,
chief of operations of the Propulsion Test Directorate, Space Shuttle
Program manager and deputy director of the Johnson Space Center in
Houston.

"It has been my distinct privilege to have gotten to know and work
with Bill Parsons since joining NASA as the administrator," NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin said. "In managing both centers and
programs for NASA, Bill has demonstrated unswerving dedication to the
mission and unshakable loyalty to his teammates. I have learned to
expect that from marines, and Bill's early training is always in
evidence. While wishing him well in his new endeavors, I will miss
him greatly."

His successor, Cabana, is a native of Minnesota. He graduated from the
U.S. Naval Academy in 1971 with a bachelor of science degree in
mathematics and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine
Corps. Cabana is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Test
Pilot School and has logged over 7,000 hours in 36 different
aircraft.

After his selection as an astronaut candidate in June of 1985, Cabana completed his training in 1986. He has flown four space shuttle
missions, serving as the pilot of Discovery missions STS-41 in
October 1990 and STS-53 in December 1992, commander of Columbia on
STS-65 in July 1994, and commander of Endeavour on STS-88 - the first
International Space Station assembly mission - in December 1998.

Before being named the director at Stennis in October 2007, Cabana served as deputy director of Johnson. In addition, Cabana has worked
as chief of NASA's Astronaut Office; manager of international
operations of the International Space Station Program; director of
NASA's Human Space Flight Program in Russia; deputy director of the
International Space Station Program; and director of Flight Crew
Operations.

"Bob Cabana is long-time colleague, and another whose marine training
has redounded to NASA's benefit," Griffin said. "Bob has seen it all
and done it all in human spaceflight, and done it with an open,
collaborative style. There is just no better teammate. He will be a
terrific successor to Bill Parsons as Director of KSC."
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Shuttle rollback decision coming up
NASA will decide in the coming days when to return shuttle Atlantis to the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building and move sistership Endeavour from Launch Complex 39B to Launch Complex 39A.

With a fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission now off until February, NASA now aims to launch Endeavour on an International Space Station outfitting mission Nov. 14 -- two days ahead of the most recent schedule.

NASA Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon told reporters Monday that Endeavour is far along enough in processing that it could be ready to fly as early as Nov. 2.

But neither crew training nor cargo delivery for the mission could be completed in time to support that date. Both, however, could be pulled in enough to push the launch up from Nov. 16 to Nov. 14.

"There's very little opportunity for us to accelerate that," he said.

The rollback of Atlantis to High Bay No. 3 of the VAB probably won't happen in the next several days.

The payload for the Hubble mission will have to be removed from its cargo bay, and the shuttle will have to be disconnected from pad systems. A crawler-transporter also will have to be moved out to the pad before the 3.5-mile trip to the assembly building can begin.

Endeavour was moved out to pad 39B so it could be launched on a rapid-response rescue mission had Atlantis sustained critical damaged during flight. The plan still will be to move Endeavour to pad 39A for launch on the station outfitting mission.

Unclear now is how the Hubble delay might impact plans to launch the Ares 1X test flight from pad 39B next year. A second shuttle presumably will have to be on that pad next year, ready to fly a rescue mission whenever Atlantis finally launches on the Hubble servicing mission.

Shannon said the construction of lightning towers to protect the 30-story Ares 1X test vehicle will continue at the pad. The larger concern: the mobile launcher platform Atlantis now sits upon is the same platform the Ares 1X rocket is supposed to be perched atop for the test flight.

NASA had hoped to launch the Ares 1X test flight on April 15, but a slip in the Hubble mission from August to October already was expected to bump that back about five or six weeks. The test flight is deemed key to gathering data needed prior to the critical design review for the Ares 1 rocket.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 3-10-2008 12:04 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/
Parsons dubs Cabana a fantastic pick
A Hall of Fame astronaut with an honest, open-door management style will become the 10th director of Kennedy Space Center next month while his predecessor pursues a private-sector opportunity with a company that does classified work for the Department of Defense.

Four-time shuttle flier Robert Cabana, 59, will take the helm at the nation's primary spaceport in mid-October, replacing Bill Parsons, 51, who will join Lockheed Martin Mission Services.

Parsons, who started his career in the contractor world and joined NASA in 1990, told Florida Today that he had reached the point in his career where he needed to decide whether he was going to stay with NASA until retirement or pursue opportunities in the private sector.

The opportunity with Lockheed Martin came up and he decided to go for it.

"It just felt like the right thing to do, so I decided to go ahead and accept their offer and let other people have a chance at running the Kennedy Space Center," Parsons said.

His new title: Vice President and Program Manager, Strategic Space Initiatives.

"It was a very personal decision. It was a very difficult decision, but there are fantastic people here to fill in when I'm not here anymore," Parsons said. "As I move on, good people will step in."

Parsons said he and his family will remain in Brevard County for at least the foreseeable future. Wife Amy will continue teaching at Tropical Elementary and his daughter and son will remain enrolled at Edgewood Junior and Senior High School.

Cabana, who now is director of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss., said he is looking forward to taking on the challenges NASA faces at KSC while transitioning from the shuttle program to voyages beyond Earth orbit.

"I couldn't be more excited about working with a great team, and I can't wait to get down there," said Cabana, who is married and has three adult children and five grandchildren.

His management style: "Taking care of the people that work for you."

"If you put the people first and provide them with the tools and the resources they need to be effective and efficient, then you are going to get the job done," he said.

"Open, honest communication" also is key to the way Cabana does business.

"It's critical that everybody feels free to have a say in a decision," the veteran shuttle pilot and mission commander said.

"So you take care of the troops, have open and honest communication and provide them with the resources they need -- and then have a vision of where you are going that is clearly communicated, that everybody buys into and accepts."

Parsons, who has known and worked with Cabana for about two decades, thinks the former NASA Chief Astronaut -- who was inducted this year into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of fame -- is a great pick for the post.

"Bob Cabana is one of the finest. He will do a fantastic job," Parsons said. "I'm very, very happy that Bob has decided to take this on."
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Grand Opening: Hubble Exhibit at KSC
Two former NASA astronauts and a key program manager will be on hand at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Friday for the grand opening of an exhibition of stunning images captured over the years by NASA's incomparable Hubble Space Telescope.

Eye On The Universe points up discoveries that have changed the way humans view the universe while allowing people to see ancient stars, nebulas and galaxies as works of art.

Launched in April 1990 aboard shuttle Discovery, the flagship observatory has enabled scientists to pin down the age of the universe -- 13.7 billion years -- confirm the existence of black holes and detect for the first time atmospheres around planets in other solar systems while providing the deepest views yet of the universe.

But images from the 18-year-old telescope also can be seen as works of art -- aesthetic astronomy. Some of the most vibrant images collected by Hubble scientists and engineers will be on display in the exhibition.

The 2 p.m. opening had been slated to coincide with the planned Oct. 14 launch of shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts on NASA's fifth and final Hubble telescope servicing mission. The STS-125/SM-4 mission, however, is being pushed back until at least February as a result of a critical parts failure last weekend on the observatory.

A device the controls Hubble instruments and formats science data failed, forcing a shutdown of the observatory. NASA plans to switch to an onboard back-up later this week, but that will still leave the telescope vulnerable to a single failure. So NASA is delaying the mission until a unit used for ground tests can be certified for flight in space and shipped to Kennedy Space Center for launch processing.

Attending the grand opening:

++Loren Shriver, the commander of STS-31, the mission during which the telescope was deployed a day after an April 24, 1990, launch.

++Story Musgrave, the payload commander and lead spacewalker on STS-61, the December 1993 mission during which astronauts fixed Hubble's "spherical aberration" -- the primary mirror flaw that went undetected prior to launch.

++Frank Cepollina, the veteran Hubble program manager who help put in place plans for a series of wildly successful servicing missions.

Outgoing KSC Director Bill Parsons, who is departing NASA in mid-October for a job in the private sector, will speak along with Daniel LeBlanc, chief operating officer of Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts of KSC, the firm that operates the KSC Visitor Complex.

The grand-opening program is expected to last 40 minutes and is included with the cost of admission to the KSC Visitor Complex. Tickets are $38 for adults and $28 for children.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 3-10-2008 12:05 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/
NASA for $500? Test Agency Trivia Tonight
Answer: Another way to celebrate NASA's 50th anniversary today, and test your knowledge of U.S. space agency trivia.

Question: What is "Jeopardy!"?

Today at 7 p.m. on WFTV-TV Channel 9, game show host Alex Trebek will quiz "Jeopardy!" contestants on NASA history, a category presented in partnership with the Coalition for Space Exploration.

The category will be called "Happy Anniversary NASA," according to coalition press representatives.

NASA has partnered with "Jeopardy!" before. According to the show's Web site, Atlantis astronauts presented "Jeopardy!" clues while docked with the International Space Station.

While NASA marks its 50th anniversary, the trivia show this year is celebrating its 25th year on television.
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Hubble Cargo Set For Removal
Workers this weekend will begin removing the Hubble Space Telescope cargo from shuttle Atlantis, setting the stage for the rollback of Atlantis to the Vehicle Assembly Building possibly as early as next week, Kennedy Space Center officials say.

A telescope hardware failure discovered last weekend forced a postponement of the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission, which had been targeted for an Oct. 14 liftoff.

NASA officials said Monday that February was likely the earliest the mission could launch.

Work to remove the payload - which includes four carriers holding highly sensitive science instruments, and new guidance sensors, batteries and gyroscopes - will begin Saturday and could take several days.

The cargo will be inserted into a giant canister in the changeout room at launch pad 39A, then returned to a super-clean processing facility at the spaceport by Tuesday.

Atlantis itself could be rolled back to the 52-story assembly building on its mobile launch platform soon after the payload work is complete.

That would pave the way for Endeavour to take Atlantis' place on pad 39A.

Endeavour now sits about a mile to the north on pad 39B, where it had been on standby to serve as a rescue shuttle if Atlantis suffered catastrophic damage during its Hubble flight.

Endeavour is currently scheduled for a Nov. 16 liftoff on an International Space Station supply mission. But with the Hubble mission no longer affecting its preparation, managers are working toward a Nov. 14 launch.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 3-10-2008 12:05 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/
Messenger Sends New Views Of Mercury


NASA's Messenger spacecraft early this morning beamed back new views of Mercury taken Monday during its second close encounter with the planet.

Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 2004, Messenger is on target to become the first probe to orbit the innermost planet in 2011.

With data from the second of three planned flybys, scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland hope to map about 30 percent of Mercury's surface that had never been seen by a spacecraft.

That's a land area larger than South America on the solar system's smallest planet, which is slightly larger than Earth's moon.

"When these data have been digested and compared, we will have a global perspective of Mercury for the first time," said Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Messenger's principal investigator, in a statement released today.

Most of the terrain being seen up close for the first time is shown in the picture above, to the east of the bright crater near the center of the picture.

The image was taken about 90 minutes after Messenger made its closest approach, skimming about 125 miles above Mercury's surface at 4:40 a.m. Monday.

In all, about 30 hours of science observations were recorded with instruments including cameras, spectrometers and an altimeter. Messenger rotated its instruments toward Earth before 2 a.m. today and began to transmit data from the flyby.

Scientific findings will be discussed during a news conference tentatively scheduled for Oct. 29.

The $426 million Messenger mission seeks to improve understanding of Mercury's composition and magnetic field, and what they say about the formation of the inner solar system.

Messenger made its first flyby of Mercury in January, seeing the opposite side of the planet. A third flyby will occur next September, again using the planet's gravity to help position the probe to enter orbit around Mercury in March 2011.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 8-10-2008 07:49 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/
Hubble Payload Removal Under Way

The cargo that NASA hoped to launch to the Hubble Space Telescope next week instead is being removed from shuttle Atlantis today.

A computer failure on the orbiting observatory last week forced the Oct. 14 repair mission's postponement until February at the earliest, and the payload must now be returned to storage in a super-clean facility.

It's the first time in about two years that a payload has been removed from a shuttle, Kennedy Space Center officials say.

This morning, space center workers maneuvered a set of telescoping arms called the Payload Ground Handling Mechanism into the shuttle's payload bay. They are undoing latches fastening the Hubble cargo's four carriers into the orbiter, with a total of 16 connection points.

By late tonight, the payload will have been pulled back into the "changeout" room in the launch pad's Rotating Service Structure, where it will be sealed in protective bags.

Once it is ready for transportation, the payload on Monday will be placed in a giant canister, removed from the launch pad and rotated to a horizontal position.

Next Tuesday, the highly sensitive science instruments and repair equipment will be back in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where most of it will be kept in "dwell" mode until the mission is ready to fly next year.

New batteries that astronauts were to install on the telescope will be shipped back to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, home of the Hubble program, until needed again.

With its payload removed, Atlantis will be prepared to return to the spaceport's 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building on Oct. 20.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 8-10-2008 07:50 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/
Nelson blasts McCain campaign

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Orlando blasted Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain over an apparent position reversal that would not raise NASA's budget by the $2 billion a year required to hurry development of the shuttle's replacement.

"The McCain campaign has just stepped in it," Nelson said Monday.

Nelson cited a GOP Web site that called the NASA budget increase part of "OBAMA'S LIBERAL FISCAL AGENDA."

The Republican National Committee Web site, however, denies that it represents any candidate's position.

McCain, however, while promising more money for NASA on a visit to Brevard County, now says he will freeze all non-military funding.

"We're trying to save jobs," said Nelson.

NASA estimates that some 3,000 jobs will be lost at Kennedy Space Center as the shuttle stops flying in 2010 to provide funding for the next generation of spacecraft. Nelson said an additional $2 billion per year will reduce the five-year gap and save engineering jobs that will be taken by Russian engineers who build the Soyuz capsules.

The Russians are planning to begin flying two spaceflight tourists at a time to the $100 billion International Space Station, which the U.S. built and largely maintains.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 8-10-2008 07:54 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/
Simonyi talks about second spaceflight

Superrich Charles Simonyi, who developed the widely used Word and Excel computer programs, said Monday that he hopes to blaze the trail into space for "people without the right stuff."

This spring the 60-year-old computer tycoon will make his second spaceflight to the International Space Station, where he has planned a leisurely stay, enjoying the wonders of weightlessness, contributing bodily fluids for analysis and gazing at the Earth.

"I'm trying to establish new minimum requirements," said Simonyi, who added that he isn't athletic enough to make a spacewalk.

As a worldwide recession rears its head, Simonyi also might be the only human with $35 million in spare change to spend on space travel. His worth is estimated at $1 billion. He leaves behind a 28-year-old fiancee, who issued a statement of support for her husband's adventure vacation.

Spending a scant 3.5 percent of his wealth, Simonyi will become unique among space tourists by being the first repeat customer.

"All of our previous customers have indicated that they do want to go again," said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures, which arranged the trip. In 2011, the company plans to start delivering two space tourists at time on a three-passenger Soyuz capsule.



Also in 2011, the Russians will begin ferrying U.S. astronauts to the space station, since the shuttle will stop flying in 2010.

On Oct. 12, Space Adventures' sixth orbital spaceflight client, Richard Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, will fly to the space station. Garriott â

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 8-10-2008 07:55 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/
Endeavour Launch Target Moved Up

NASA has bumped up its target launch date for Endeavour by two days, to Nov. 14 - six weeks from today.

The earlier timetable was made possible after this week's postponement of Atlantis' planned Oct. 14 launch, because of a computer failure on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Endeavour was being prepared for a rescue flight if Atlantis sustained major damage on its Hubble servicing mission, but crews have now turned their attention to Endeavour's trip to the International Space Station.

The launch from Kennedy Space Center is tentatively set for 7:55 p.m. Nov. 14, with landing expected at 2:15 p.m. Nov. 29.

The date won't be official until senior NASA executives hold a flight readiness review Oct. 30 and 31.

Endeavour's mission will increase the space station's resident crew capacity from three to six.

Preparations have begun to move Endeavour from launch pad 39B to pad 39A, about 1.5 miles to the south.

Electrical connections between Atlantis and the Hubble cargo will be unhooked this weekend, and the cargo will be transferred to the launch pad's changeout room Tuesday.

On Oct. 13, the sensitive cargo will be placed in a giant canister for transportation back to the spaceport's super-clean Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.

A week later, on Oct. 20, Atlantis is scheduled to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will sit until next year. Mid-February is considered the earliest it could launch.

Endeavour then would roll around to pad 39A on Oct. 25.

The next day, Endeavour's crew will arrive at the space center to practice landings in modified jets and emergency escape procedures at the launch pad. They'll complete a countdown dress rehearsal Oct. 29.

kl90

New crew, tourist launch to space station



A fresh crew and a space tourist are on their way to the International Space Station today after launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

American astronaut Michael Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and milionaire video game designer Richard Garriott blasted off as scheduled at 3:01 a.m. EDT and made a flawless nine-minute flight into orbit.

The 16-story rocket sped through crisp bluw skies, and in-cabin video showed a calm crew of three flipping through flight data files as the Soyuz made its powerful ascent.

Specialists in the Russian Mission Control Center in Moscow reported that the spacecraft's power=producing solar wings and communications antenna deployed without problem once the Soyuz sspacecraft separated from its launch vehicle.

The crew is scheduled to arrive at the station at 4:38 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

Fincke and Lonchakov are the commander and prime flight engineer of the 18th expedition to the station. Garriott is flying under a commercial contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency and will return to Earth Oct. 23 with two homebound cosmonauts.

kl90

Hatches Open, Crews Meet


After opening the hatches that separated them just before 6 a.m., the Expedition 18 crew and spaceflight participant Richard Garriott entered the International Space Station and exchanged hugs and greetings with its three occupants.

The group of six station residents then gathered to receive congratulatory calls from Russian and American space officials and from family members at the Russian mission control center.

"I'm doing great," American astronaut Michael Finke, the commander of Expedition 18, told his wife and three daughters. "I love you from space."

Space tourist Richard Gariott spoke with his father, former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, and loved ones.

"I can fly!" he said.

"Welcome to your new home," Kirk Shireman, NASA's International Space Station deputy program manager, told the new crew.

What's next? A busy day of activity for the two crews.

Expedition 17 Commander Sergei Volkov will begin breifing the new crew on safety and other issues affecting the station.

One issue that's been taken care of: a toilet that broke several days ago has been fixed, Russian space agency representatives said during this morning's news conference.

By about 7 a.m., systems on the newly docked Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft will be deactivated, flight controllers say.

The spacesuits worn by Finke, Lonchakov and Garriott will be aired out and stowed until they are needed again in 10 days. Custom-made seat liners will be moved from one Soyuz to the other.

Garriott's will be transferred from the Soyuz TMA-13 vehicle he arrived on this morning to TMA-12, the one he'll depart in Oct. 23.

Going in the opposite direction is the seat liner for Greg Chamitoff - the Expedition 17 astronaut who will ride shuttle Endeavour home next month. That's a safety precaution in the event the station needs to be evacuated.

The crews will also begin setting up science experiments and transferring equipment from the Soyuz. In all, most won't finish their day and get a chance to sleep until about 4:30 p.m.

Already, station solar arrays that were maneuvered to avoid damage from the docking spacecraft have been repositioned to generate maximum power.

[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 15-10-2008 09:48 AM 编辑 ]

kl90

Soyuz, Station Link Up


The Soyuz TMA-13 has docked flawlessly with the International Space Station ahead of schedule, at 4:26 a.m., bringing a new crew to the orbiting outpost.

The spacecraft's docking probe is being retracted as latches hard mate it to the station's Zarya module.

A post-docking news conference in Russia is scheduled within 30 minutes. Hatches are scheduled to be opened in a little over an hour.

Arriving at the station are American astronaut Michael Finke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, two members of Expedition 18.

With them is space tourist Richard Garriott, the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott.

Garriott will return to Earth on Oct. 23 with Expedition 17 members Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, riding the Soyuz TMA-12 on which they arrived at the station in April.

The diagram above shows where the two Soyuz vehicles are docked.

Finke and Lonchakov will remain on station with American astronaut Greg Chamitoff until next month. Then, astronaut Susan Magnus will replace Chamitoff when shuttle Endeavour launches to the station with supplies and gear that will help it support a six-person crew.

Endeavour's launch is targeted for Nov. 14.

kl90

Fathers Celebrate Safe Docking


Owen Garriott, pictured in the red jacket at left, thanked Russian space officials and contractors for his son Richard's safe arrival this morning at the International Space Station.

"We look forward to a completion in another 10 days," said Garriott, a veteran of Spacelab and shuttle missions.

He spoke at a Russian Federal Space Agency news conference outside Moscow where officials celebrated this morning's successful docking of the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft as a demonstration of the nation's "excellent technical capability."

Garriott was seated next to former cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, whose son Sergei was already aboard the station.

The meeting on station between cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and space tourist Richard Garriott, a video game designer who reportedly paid more than $30 million for the flight, will be the first in orbit by two second-generation space travellers.

kl90

Atlantis on the Move

Oct. 20, 2008
A crawler began carrying space shuttle Atlantis back to the Vehicle Assembly Building just before dawn this morning, clearing the way for Endeavour to move to Launch Pad 39A on Saturday. The rollback began at 6:48 a.m. EDT.

The rollback to the VAB at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will take about six hours with the crawler registering a speed of less than 1 mile per hour. The move was required when Atlantis’ mission to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope was postponed because of technical issues the Hubble developed in space.

Atlantis will be parked inside the VAB until NASA managers set a new target launch date for the STS-125 mission.

Endeavour, which is on Launch Pad 39B, will be moved to Launch Pad 39A for the launch of a mission to resupply and equip the International Space Station for a six-person crew. Launch is targeted for Nov. 14.

By moving off of Launch Pad 39B, Endeavour will not be in the way of continuing work to modify the launch pad for the test flight of the Ares I rocket next year.