NASA Shuttle launch pad 39A up for lease

Nearly two years after space shuttle Atlantis blasted off for the last time, NASA has put out a "For Lease" notice for one of its shuttle launch pads in Florida.

In a notice posted on its procurement website, the U.S. space agency said it was looking for one or more companies to take over operations and maintenance of Launch Complex 39A.

The facility is one of two launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center built in the 1960s to support the Apollo moon program. Both were later modified for the space shuttles, which began flying in 1981.

NASA intends to refurbish Complex 39B for its heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket and Orion deep-space crew capsule, designed to carry astronauts to destinations beyond the International Space Station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

Pad 39A, however, is among the hundreds of shuttle-era facilities that NASA no longer needs.

Robert Cabana

"We're on track for significant commercial operations here at the Cape," Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana said last week at a National Space Club Florida meeting in Cape Canaveral.

NASA's Florida spaceport has demolished or transferred to commercial users more than 150 shuttle facilities, reducing its footprint by 1 million square feet (93,000 square meters), Cabana said.

Among the companies that have expressed interest in the pad are privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, which leases a launch pad at the adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for its Falcon 9 rockets.

SpaceX has a second launch site in California and is shopping for at least one more U.S. site to accommodate its burgeoning manifest.

NASA is looking to have a five-year or longer lease on the property by October 1.

American Classics

Sierra Nevada Corp Dream Chaser begins test flights for NASA

The Dream Chaser Space System (DCSS) spacecraft, being developed by US space company Sierra Nevada Corporation to carry cargo and astronauts, has begun its test flight program with a successful captive carry flight.

May 29 2012 saw the craft have its first captive carry flight that met all the pre-established flight test goals.

The Dream Chaser is being developed under NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program whereby commercial space businesses will transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

The test flight marked the 12th milestone under the CCDev Program. The development program will continue building up towards an autonomous Approach and Landing Test later in the summer, to be conducted at the Edwards Air Force Base.

Steve Lindsey, an astronaut who commnaded five Space Shuttle missions, was appointed by SNC in 2011 to run the Dream Chaser's flight operations.

Commenting on the captive carry flight Lindsey said: "The successful Captive Carry flight test of the Dream Chaser full scale flight vehicle marks the beginning of SNC's flight test program; a program that culminates in crewed missions to the International Space Station for NASA."

The Dream Chaser is a reusable spacecraft that launches vertically and lands horizontally on a conventional runway.

The Dream Chaser is being designed to carry up to 7 astronauts, as well as cargo, into orbit, in particular to and from the International Space Station.

SNC are aiming for the Dream Chaser to be ready to enter operational service by 2016.
With the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011 NASA’s strategy is to use commercial businesses to service low-Earth orbit.


Read More of this article here: Dream Chaser begins test flights

Shuttle Replica Explorer On The Way To Space Center Houston - YouTube

Atop a barge, the space shuttle full-scale replica Explorer nears the completion of its eight-day journey from the Kennedy Space Center destined for permanent retention at Space Center Houston, near the NASA Johnson Space Center.

NASA Shuttle Discovery: NASA 905 is close to OV103 for mating operations.

NASA Shuttle Discovery (905) is close to OV103 for mating operations.


More Images available at NASA Kennedy Space Centre Flickr site.

Credit: NASA

NASA Shuttle IMAX Cameras at the Smithsonian

An IMAX camera that flew aboard a space shuttle is seen at the Moving Beyond Earth Gallery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Wednesday, April 4, 2012, in Washington.

This and another IMAX camera that flew in space became a part of the museum's collection. 

From 1984 to 1998 the 70mm cameras accompanied astronauts on 17 space shuttle missions offering stunning views of Earth from space and offered an up-close look at what it is like to live and work in a weightless environment.

Image Credit: NASA/Paul E. Alers

ASCENT: Riding a NASA Shuttle Booster Rocket with enhanced sound - YouTube

From the upcoming Special Edition Ascent: Commemorating Space Shuttle DVD/BluRay a movie from the point of view of the Solid Rocket Booster with sound mixing and enhancement done by the folks at Skywalker Sound.



Photographic documentation of a Space Shuttle launch plays a critical role in the engineering analysis and evaluation process that takes place during each and every mission. Motion and Still images enable Shuttle engineers to visually identify off-nominal events and conditions requiring corrective action to ensure mission safety and success. This imagery also provides highly inspirational and educational insight to those outside the NASA family.

This compilation of film and video presents the best of the best ground-based Shuttle motion imagery from STS-114, STS-117, and STS-124 missions. Rendered in the highest definition possible, this production is a tribute to the dozens of men and women of the Shuttle imaging team and the 30yrs of achievement of the Space Shuttle Program.

The video was produced by Matt Melis at the Glenn Research Center.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwqZ4qAUkE

Tile Makers Creating Orion Shield

Workers recently began cutting and coating the first thermal protection system tiles - part of the heat shield that will protect an Orion spacecraft during an upcoming flight test which will simulate the re-entry speed and heating of returning from deep space.

The tiles are made of the same material and coating as those used on the space shuttle's belly.

On Orion, however, the tiles will be placed along the sides and top of the conical spacecraft.

A separate heat shield akin to the ablative design used during Apollo is being developed to protect the bottom of the spacecraft, which will encounter the highest temperatures.

The manufacturing work at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., marks an important time in the progression of the spacecraft following the shuttle's retirement in 2011, said Thermal Protection System, or TPS, engineers Joy Huff and Sarah Cox.

"We're making something that's going to fly again, which is what we were doing for years," Huff said.

There are about 40 people involved in the tile work: 20 to make the tiles and 20 to install them.

"We're at the starting line," Cox said. "It's going to take some time to get all the parts fabricated."

The same shop that manufactured space shuttle tiles will make the 1,300 tiles needed for the Orion flight.

It is not fast work. In fact, workers will spend about 11 months shaping the insulating blocks and laying on a heat-resistant, ceramic coating.

They use a 5-axis mill loaded with precise dimensions to cut blank tiles to their shapes. So far, the shop has finished 33 tiles.

Many of the tiles will have special cutouts for instruments to collect data during the flight test. Many fewer cutouts will be needed for future missions.

In an advancement from the shuttle days, each tile's dimensions are sent over digitally from Orion builder Lockheed Martin and the final tile is photographed with a 3-D camera so computers can fit the pieces together virtually before they are placed together physically, Huff said. The details are far more exact than in the past.

"They've had such good success that (technicians) are going to eliminate one pre-fit step," Huff said.

The comparisons with the tile work for the space shuttles are plentiful. For example, the smaller Orion uses tiles that average 8-inches by 8-inches compared to the shuttle's 6-inches by 6-inches.

Also, Orion's design allows for many of the tiles to be the same dimensions with the same part number, but each shuttle tile was a unique configuration unto itself, with individual part numbers.

"That's a huge improvement over shuttle," Huff said. "Even having nine or 10 of the same part is a big improvement."

Perhaps the biggest comparison, though, is the sheer number of tiles involved. A space shuttle heat shield required more than 23,000 tiles to the Orion's 1,300.

"It's smaller, so there's less parts," Cox said.

ESA Cologne: Space Lab Astronaut - YouTube

Boeing to Build Private Space CST-100 Taxis in NASA Shuttle Hangar

Helping to pave the road for the future of commercial spaceflight, Boeing is hard at work on the research and development of a new space capsule aimed at flying people to the International Space Station.

CREDIT: Boeing

Aerospace giant Boeing has inked a deal to use an old space shuttle hangar at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the headquarters to build and test the private company's new spaceship designed to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, company officials announced today (Oct. 31).

Boeing is making Florida the headquarters of its space taxi venture, a move that will add up to 550 new jobs in the area, Boeing's vice president and program manager for commercial crew vehicles said in a news briefing today from Kennedy Space Center.

Texas drought exposes doomed NASA Shuttle Columbia debris

The prolonged drought in Texas has revealed what NASA says is a tank from the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart over east Texas as it re-entered the atmosphere in 2003.

Greg Sowell, a police sergeant in the city of Nacogdoches, which is located about 160 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Houston, said the waters of Lake Nacogdoches, which are falling due to the record drought which has gripped the state, revealed an unexpected object.

"We found a large, about four-foot-diameter, round, what appears to be a tank of some sort," Sowell said Tuesday. "We have reason to believe this may be a part of the Columbia space shuttle."

The police department sent photos of the object to NASA for review, and experts at the space agency confirmed that the object was a power reactant storage and distribution tank. Such tanks are used aboard the shuttle to store cryogenic fuel for electrical power during flight.

Lisa Malone, a spokeswoman at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, told msnbc.com that Columbia carried 18 of the tanks for its 16-day mission.

Columbia broke apart upon re-entry into the atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003, killing the seven crew members on board. Debris from the spacecraft, which disintegrated over a wide area of east Texas, has been found in about 2,000 locations across eastern Texas and western Louisiana, including in Nacogdoches.

"Due to the drought, Lake Nacogdoches is at an approximately 9-foot low," Sowell said. "There has been an unusually large area of the lake which is normally underwater which has been exposed."

Sowell noted that space shuttle debris is considered government property, and that tampering with such objects is a criminal offense.

Malone said NASA and local authorities were working out a plan for recovering the tank and bringing it to Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, where previously recovered pieces from Columbia — including other fuel-cell tanks — are being stored under climate-controlled conditions.

NASA Langley Orion (MPCV) Spacecraft Making Cross Country Voyage

The first flight test article made under the original Orion Capsule design is on its way across country from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s next generation spacecraft, the newly named Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), will make three outreach stops along the way to inform the public.

In the above image, the capsule is making its way to Tucson, Arizona.

NASA Langley engineers built the test article in just 10 months. It took 49,500 fabrication hours and 2,000 fabricated parts to build the almost 20,000 pound capsule that represents the size, shape and mass of the actual Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

The test article was built to fly as a part of the successful Pad-Abort 1 flight test that took place May 6, 2010 at White Sands Missile Range.

The test demonstrated the capability of a new launch abort system, developed by NASA. The test article was not originally planned to be reused due to the high-risk nature of the Pad-Abort 1 test, but the module and its systems survived the flight test with only minor damage.

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

The test article will eventually be moved to Kennedy’s Operation and Checkout Facility for further study.

Nasa Langley Research

Inside the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) - Video

Aeronautical engineer Olivia Fuentes talks with TIME's Jeffrey Kluger about the MPCV, the next generation vehicle for deep space travel.

ESA Shuttle± Re/entry vehicle on track for flight in 2013

Europe’s ambition for a spacecraft to return autonomously from low orbit is a cornerstone for a wide range of space applications, including space transportation, exploration and robotic servicing of space infrastructure.

This goal will be achieved with IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, planned for launch in 2013.

Launched into a suborbital trajectory on ESA’s small Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, IXV will return to Earth as if from a low-orbit mission, to test and qualify new European critical reentry technologies such as advanced ceramic and ablative thermal protection.

The 2 t lifting body will attain an altitude of around 450 km, allowing it to reach a velocity of 7.5 km/s on entering the atmosphere. It will collect a large amount of data during its hypersonic and supersonic flight, while it is being controlled by thrusters and aerodynamic flaps.

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

Credits: ESA - J.Huart

ESA - Launchers Home - ESA reentry vehicle on track for flight in 2013 - images

Lego Space Site

Click on the picture above to visit the Lego Space website

Here

NASA Gives Space Shuttles to Smithsonian and Museums in Calif., Florida and NYC

NASA has decided the final museum homes for its space shuttle fleet. Shuttle Discovery will go to the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Va. (upper left); the shuttle test orbiter Enterprise will go to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York City (illustration at upper right); shuttle Atlantis will go to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Florida (bottom left). The test orbiter Enterprise is shown at bottom right.

NASA Aeronautics at Balloon Fiesta

Rising Expectations: NASA Aeronautics Showcased at Balloon Fiesta

Visitors at the 2010 International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, N.M., not only get the visual stimulation of hundreds of colorful hot-air balloons soaring skyward, but can learn about NASA efforts toward improving aviation via an exhibit focusing on the agency's aeronautics research efforts.

NASA Aeronautics exhibit this year is focusing on its "green aviation" initiative, which seeks to test and integrate technologies for reducing aircraft noise and emissions, maximizing fuel usage and improving air-traffic management.

It also features displays on the history of NASA aeronautics research, including a timeline of aviation achievements, a space shuttle tire flown on the shuttle Discovery, cockpit simulators, wind tunnels and even a "virtual airport" where visitors can zoom in to see how NASA’s technology has found its way to use on military, commercial and general aviation aircraft and helicopters.

A display about the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, which incorporates the world's largest airborne infrared telescope installed in the rear fuselage of a NASA 747SP aircraft, introduces visitors to the infrared spectrum by allowing them to see themselves on a monitor through the lens of an infrared camera.

NASA - Space Shuttle delays

Over the weekend at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians will take additional measurements to ensure the best possible alignment of the newly installed ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) on space shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank.

Teams will evaluate data and now expect to begin installing the flight seal and quick disconnects on Monday, Nov. 15.

Engineers met today to discuss upcoming work to repair cracks in Discovery’s external tank intertank section.

During foam removal and inspection of adjacent stringers to the one with two 9-inch cracks, technicians today identified an approximately 3-inch crack on the left-hand adjacent stringer.

This was not an unexpected result since the load was most likely transferred to the adjacent stringer when both sides of the original stringer cracked during tanking operations for Discovery’s scrubbed launch attempt on Nov. 5.

Teams will build and use existing structural math models to understand the loading at the interface.

Stringers are aluminum support strips on the outside of the external tank that form the section between the inside liquid oxygen tank and the liquid hydrogen tanks.

NASA Shuttle Image: The crack in the liquid Oxygen tank

(Image: NASA)

This terahertz image shows the 50cm crack in the foam insulation of the space shuttle's fuel tank, at the joint where the liquid oxygen tank meets the inter-tank flange.

The crack appeared on Friday as the tank was being drained of liquid hydrogen after a fuel leak prevented the shuttle from launching.

A missing chunk of foam insulation was responsible for the breakup of the shuttle Colombia as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere in 2003, causing the deaths of 7 astronauts.

If the fuel leak and the foam crack can be fixed, Discovery's final mission, STS-133, will launch on November 30th. The shuttle will bring supplies and extra storage capacity to the International Space Station.

Repair analysis continues on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. See a Gigapan image of the shuttle awaiting launch here.

NASA - Shuttle Expedition 25 crew

NASA - Expedition 25

Pictured at centre right is NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, Expedition 25 commander. Also pictured (from the left) are Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri; NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Shannon Walker; along with Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, all flight engineers. Image credit: NASA