NASA Archives

June 19, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Possible Shuttle Sabotage or Over-Active Imaginations?

Shuttle workers attempt to figure out the cause of the hydrogen leak. Credit: NASA

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A couple of news stories showed up yesterday suggesting the hydrogen leak that has kept space shuttle Endeavour grounded could possibly be the work of sabotage. Not by foreign operatives, but by the people who work on the shuttles themselves, in an attempt to extend the shuttle program — and their jobs — for a longer period of time. Understandably, shuttle workers and NASA leaders were outraged at suggestions of sabotage, and several of the articles were later edited to add the following: “This story was updated to reflect additional statements from NASA. Contrary to the previous report, NASA denies it is undertaking any effort to look specifically for sabotage.”

LeRoy Cain, deputy manager of the space shuttle program said no one at NASA suspects any intentional damage to Endeavour at the launch pad, but they do have steps to monitor people who have access to the shuttle — a policy that has always been in place.

“We have talked a great deal about those kinds of potential issues,” he said. “But we’ve got a highly professional workforce here, and to a person, at least when I talk to them, they’re in this business because they love the work that they do.”

No cause has been found for the leaking fuel line that has twice delayed Endeavour’s launch, as well as delaying and an earlier shuttle mission that eventually launched in March. And NASA has no reason to suspect it was intentional.

Engineers said they strongly believe that the problem will turn out to be an explainable flaw — not sabotage.

As of Thursday, NASA has no formal sabotage investigation under way.

Of course, in 2007 a worker for a NASA subcontractor tried to sabotage computers heading to the International Space Station by cutting wires inside the computers, but the damage was discovered and fixed before they were launched.

Here’s a new report from Orlando’s WESH TV. Investigative reporting or over-active imagination?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sources: Space.com, WESH TV,

June 17, 2009December 24, 2015 by Anne Minard

Follow Apollo Mission “Tweets,” 40 Years Later

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This is just cool.

Nature, the publishing group, is mixing the old with the new by “tweeting” the Apollo 11 moon mission as it happened — 40 years later. Followers on Twitter will be able to read about technical milestones, political challenges, and related events in the space race starting today, just over a month before the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

Apollo 11’s Twitter profile is here — and since the announcement this morning, already boasts 110 followers. The tweets will chronicle the Apollo 11 crew’s journey to the moon and back, and taper off during the weeks following the mission to give followers the context surrounding the moon mission and its implications for science and the wider world.

Source: Nature News. More information is available in an accompanying blog.

June 15, 2009April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

LRO/LCROSS Gives Up Launch Date for STS-127

LRO on the launchpad. Credit: NASA

It’s a crowded dance floor and someone had to step aside. Because of Saturday’s launch delay for STS-127, the shuttle and the upcoming dual mission to the moon — the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) — were both vying to launch from Kennedy Space Center on the same day, which is not a possibility (usually there needs to be at least 48 hours between launches as the Air Force’s Eastern Range that monitors needs that amount of time to reconfigure the systems.) At a press conference today, NASA launch manager at KSC, Chuck Dovale announced LRO/LRCROSS will give up their originally schedule launch date of June 17 so that the shuttle can go. “We are relinquishing the June 17 date to the shuttle,” he said. “However, we will maintain June 18 as the earliest possible date for LRO/LCROSS. We will monitor the shuttle’s progress, and if they were to scrub the launch for any reason before midnight on the 16th, we can still maintain launch on the 18th.” But there’s a lot that has to go right for the optimum and hoped for launch schedules to happen.
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May 27, 2009August 21, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

8 Ridiculous Things Bigger Than NASA’s Budget

Astronaut John Grusnfeld on the recent Hubble servicing mission. Credit: NASA

Why do we explore? In the days of Magellan, Columbus and da Gama, undoubtedly the average person thought it was foolish to risk lives and spend large amounts of money to find out what was beyond the horizon. Those explorers didn’t find what they expected, but their explorations changed the world.

What drives us to explore and discover is what we don’t know, and the spirit of exploration inspires us to create and invent so that we can go explore and possibly change the world. We don’t know yet exactly what we’ll find if humans ever go to Mars, Europa or beyond, but if we stay in our caves we’ll never find out. Similarly, space probes and telescopes like Hubble, as well as ground-based telescopes have helped us explore remotely and have facilitated the discovery of so many things we didn’t know — and didn’t expect — about our universe.

However, exploration takes money.

The most often-used argument against space exploration is that we should use that money to alleviate problems here on Earth. But that argument fails to realize that NASA doesn’t just pack millions of dollar bills into a rocket and blast them into space. The money NASA uses creates jobs, providing an opportunity for some of the world’s brightest minds to use their talents to, yes, actually benefit humanity. NASA’s exploration spurs inventions that we use everyday, many which save lives and improve the quality of life. Plus, we’re expanding our horizons and feeding our curiosity, while learning so, so much and attempting to answer really big questions about ourselves and the cosmos.

NASA’s annual budget for fiscal year 2009 is $17.2 billion. The proposed budget for FY 2010 would raise it to about $18.7 billion. That sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but let’s put it in perspective. The US annual budget is almost $3 trillion and NASA’s cut of the US budget is less than 1%, which isn’t big enough to create even a single line on this pie chart.

A few other things to put NASA’s budget in perspective:

Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin mentioned recently that US consumers spend more on pizza ($27 billion) than NASA’s budget. (Head nod to Ian O’Neill)

Miles O’Brien recently brought it to our attention that the amount of money Bernie Maddof scammed with his Ponzi scheme ($50 billion) is way bigger than NASA’s budget.

Americans spend a lot of money on some pretty ridiculous things. Returning to that oft-used phrase about spending the money used in space to solve the problems on Earth, consider this: *

Annually, Americans spend about $88.8 billion on tobacco products and another $97 billion on alcohol. $313 billion is spent each year in America for treatment of tobacco and alcohol related medical problems.

Likewise, people in the US spend about $64 billion on illegal drugs, and $114.2 billion for health-related care of drug use.

Americans also spend $586.5 billion a year on gambling. Italian’s also spend quite a bit – according to Stranieri, in 2011 gamblers in Italy spent more than 100 billion euros on gambling!

It’s possible we could give up some other things to help alleviate the problems in our country without having to give up the spirit of exploration.

*the numbers used here are from various years, depending on what was readily available, but range from the years 2000 and 2008.

May 23, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Bolden Nominated as NASA Administrator; Shuttle Landing Delayed

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About the same time space shuttle Atlantis’ landing was waved off today due to continued rainy weather in Florida, the White House announced that former shuttle commander Charles Bolden Jr. will be nominated as NASA’s next administrator. President Obama also chose Lori Garver to be Bolden’s deputy administrator. Obama said, “These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century and ensure the long-term vibrancy of America’s space program.”

Several different sources expect Bolden to be a strong proponent of manned spaceflight, since he has flown on the shuttle four times, with over 680 hours in space. Many believe he will also be strongly in favor of the Constellation program, as well as support the efforts of some members of Congress who would like to see the life of the space shuttle extended beyond 2010.

Bolden and Garver will have to be approved by Congress, which can sometimes be a lengty process. Let’s hope not – over four months without an official administrator is long enough.

Bolden will have his work cut out for him, as NASA has a lot on its plate, but no real growth in its budget. The fiscal year 2010 budget request of $18.686 billion includes $456M increase for science and $630M increase for Exploration. Some of that increase is because of the one-time Recovery Act stimulus money. Future budget proposals for fiscal years 2011, 2012, 2013 also are also relatively flat. NASA Watch.com reported several sources say Bolden expressed concern at his meeting with President Obama because he was told that further cuts to human spaceflight in future budgets might be needed.

STS-125 Commander Scott Altman (left) and pilot Greg Johnson use a software program to practice landing the shuttle. Credit: NASA

Meanwhile, the crew of STS-125 will stay on orbit another day. NASA officials are still hoping the shuttle can land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida rather than Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The astronauts will have two opportunities to land in Florida Sunday and two at Edwards. The first Florida opportunity, the astronauts would fire Atlantis’ twin braking rockets at 8:58 am EDT with landing at 10:11 am. A second Florida landing opportunity is available at 11:49 am.

Friday’s landing attempt was also canceled because of rain, low clouds and lightning. The forecast for Sunday is marginal, with clouds and rain expected, but flight controllers are hopeful conditions will improve.

May 22, 2009December 24, 2015 by Anne Minard

Weather Keeps Shuttle Crew in Space Another Day

STS-125 crew members aboard Atlantis (pictured above) will hang out at least a day longer in space, following foul weather that prevented a timely landing today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

And the forecast isn’t looking any sunnier for at least a little while.

There’s a 70 percent likelihood that storms will stick around today, with that chance dropping slightly to 60 percent through Saturday. By early next week, the chance of thunderstorms will have dropped below 50 percent.

NASA Flight Director Norm Knight and the entry team will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Atlantis and its crew to land at 9:16 a.m. Saturday. A second Kennedy landing opportunity is at 10:54 a.m. The shuttle also has landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:46 a.m. and 12:24 p.m.

If Atlantis does not land Saturday, there are multiple landing opportunities Sunday at Kennedy, Edwards, or White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, here are some ways to keep current on the mission’s finale:

NASA News Twitter feeds

NASA TV downlink information, including schedules and links to streaming video,

STS-125 mission and accomplishments

NASA’s Hubble site

May 8, 2009December 24, 2015 by Ian O'Neill

NASA is Running Out of Plutonium

[/caption]Decommissioning nuclear weapons is a good thing. But when our boldest space missions depend on surplus nuclear isotopes derived from weapons built at the height of the Cold War, there is an obvious problem.

If we’re not manufacturing any more nuclear bombs, and we are slowly decommissioning the ones we do have, where will NASA’s supply of plutonium-238 come from? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t easy to arrive at; to start producing this isotope, we need to restart plutonium production.

And buying plutonium-238 from Russia isn’t an option, NASA has already been doing that and they’re running out too…

This situation has the potential of being a serious limiting factor for the future of spaceflight beyond the orbit of Mars.

Exploration of the inner-Solar System should be OK, as the strength of sunlight is substantial, easily powering our robotic orbiters, probes and rovers. However, missions further afield will be struggling to collect the meagre sunlight with their solar arrays. Historic missions such as Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini and New Horizons would not be possible without the plutonium-238 pellets.

So the options are stark: Either manufacture more plutonium or find a whole new way of powering our spacecraft without radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs). The first option is bound to cause some serious political fallout (after all, when there are long-standing policies in place to restrict the production of plutonium, NASA may not get a fair hearing for its more peaceful applications) and the second option doesn’t exist yet.

Although plutonium-238 cannot be used for nuclear weapons, launching missions with any kind of radioactive material on board always causes a public outcry (despite the most stringent safeguards against contamination should the mission fail on launch), and hopelessly flawed conspiracy theories are inevitable. RTGs are not nuclear reactors, they simply contain a number of tiny plutonium-238 pellets that slowly decay, emitting α-particles and generating heat. The heat is harnessed by thermocouples and converted into electricity for on board systems and robotic experiments.

RTGs also have astonishingly long lifespans. The Voyager probes for example were launched in 1977 and their fuel is predicted to keep them powered-up until 2020 at least. Next, the over-budget and delayed Mars Science Laboratory will be powered by plutonium-238, as will the future Europa orbiter mission. But that is about as far as NASA’s supply will stretch. After Europa, there will be no fuel left.

If plutonium-238 production is to be started again, a decision will need to be made soon. It will take eight years to start producing 5 kilograms of plutonium-238 per year, therefore any application for additional funding for plutonium-238 production for space exploration will need to be placed in next year’s budget.

Sources: New Scientist, Discovery.com

May 5, 2009April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Obama to Re-examine Constellation Program

The Constellation program's Ares rockets. Credit: NASA

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The White House is expected to announce on Thursday that they will order a full review of the NASA’s Constellation program. The reason for the review is to determine whether the Ares I rocket and the Orion crew capsule are the best options for replacing the space shuttle. According to the Orlando Sentinel, this announcement will coincide with the release of the Obama administration’s $18.7 billion spending plan for NASA. Obama has said little about NASA since he took office in January, but altering plans for the next generation of crewed space vehicles would be a major change of course for the space agency.

This review follows decisions by NASA to alter the Orion spacecraft – decreasing the crew size from six to four in order to save weight – as well as months of critical reports questioning whether the new Ares I rocket and Orion capsule will be ready to fly to orbit by 2015.

Other problems with Ares have surfaced, such as potential violent shaking caused by vibrations in its solid-rocket first stage, and the rocket’s tendency to drift on takeoff into its launch tower. Also, its estimate costs through 2015 have risen from $28 billion in 2006 to $44 billion today.

Agency and industry insiders said this budget proposal should offer the first major clues as to the new president’s plans for the agency, the Sentinel reported. Without an administrator NASA has not had clear direction from the current administration.

The news of a possible review of Constellation have given hope to the proponents of an alternative rocket system called Direct 2.0. The Direct system proposes a Jupiter 120 rocket, which is essentially the shuttle’s fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters with a capsule mounted on top in place of a side-mounted orbiter.

This plan was designed in part by NASA engineers working on their own time who were frustrated with the Ares rocket.

One study, called the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, or ESAS, ruled out using the military rockets and other systems while another independent study commissioned by NASA found that rockets currently being used by the military to launch top-secret spy satellites could be affordably and safely adapted to ferry humans to the international space station and, eventually, the moon and beyond.

But under administrator Mike Griffin, NASA decided against that course of action. The ESAS study was protested by many as having little input and participation from contractors and rocket companies.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

May 5, 2009June 19, 2013 by Nancy Atkinson

Alan Shepard, Freedom 7: May 5, 1961

48 years ago today, the US launched their first human to space. Alan Shepard flew on Mercury 3, a suborbital mission with a duration of only 15 minutes and 28 seconds. Shepard’s ship, Freedom 7, reached an altitude of 116.5 statute miles (186.4 km) and flew a distance of 303 statute miles (485 km). Enjoy this great video, which includes original footage, as well as Alan B Shephard talking about the flight. He also gives the real story about the “request to relieve himself” which was made famous in the movie “The Right Stuff.” Alan Shepard also flew on Apollo 14 (and made the famous golf shot on the moon.) He passed away in 1998.
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May 1, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

NASA Begins Job Layoffs As Shuttle Retirement Looms

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NASA began the first round of job layoffs today as the space agency prepares to retire its fleet of space shuttles. 160 people were notified today their jobs were being cut, the first of 900 jobs that will evaporate in the next five months. The first wave of layoffs will affect Lockheed Martin and ATK Thiokol, contractors that support the shuttle program building fuel tanks and rocket boosters in Louisiana and Utah. The shuttle program employs about 1,600 NASA civil servants across the space agency and 13,800 contractors around the country. Once the shuttle stops flying, as many as 6,500 jobs could be cut at the Kennedy Space Center alone.

NASA announced the first round of layoffs at a briefing Thursday, where they also announced the launch date for the Hubble Telescope repair mission as May 11, a day earlier than previously planned. Making the two divergent announcements at the same news conference was bittersweet.

Officials at the briefing stressed that without an infusion of money in 2010 — for which a detailed budget is expected to be released next week — they had no choice but to continue the gradual shutdown of shuttle operations.

Bill Gerstenmaier (left), NASAÂ?s associate administrator for space operations, and shuttle-program manager John Shannon announce job cuts Thursday at Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA

Shuttle program manager John Shannon said several hundred jobs will be lost to attrition and some employees will transfer to other contractors or projects. The rest will be layoffs.

“Only if we were directed to fly additional missions would we halt that activity,” Shannon said.

Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations, said that if $2.5 billion proposed recently by Congress budget planners materialized, it could allow a few shuttles to fly past the 2010 retirement date if some shuttle flights got delayed and NASA were unable to complete the construction of the international space station.

He added that, although the shuttle program’s plans were clear, it was less certain how quickly jobs would ramp up for the shuttle’s replacement, the Ares I rocket and Orion capsule.

The first launch of Ares I and Orion is planned for March 2015, but that date is not certain.

Source: Orlando Sentinel