Category: NASA

The US White House released its 2006 budget today, which included $16.45 billion US for NASA. This is a 2.5% increase over the previous year, but it doesn’t include any funds to save the Hubble Space Telescope. Only $75 million have been set aside for Hubble, which would only be enough to have a robot steer the aging observatory into a safe trajectory when it needs to be destroyed. The budget sets aside $9.6 billion for science, aeronautics and exploration, and $6.7 billion for the space shuttle and International Space Station.

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe is set to resign this week from the agency, after heading it up for three years. President Bush is considering five men to take over, with the former leader of the Pentagon Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, widely considered to be the top candidate. Other people being considered for the position are former Congressman Robert Walker and former shuttle astronauts Ron Sega, Charles Bolden and Robert Crippen. O’Keefe is said to be considering a new position as the chancellor of Louisiana State University.

The X-43A research mission intended to reach Mach 10 today was postponed, and may be rescheduled for the same time tomorrow.

An instrumentation system problem with the X-43 caused a delay until it was fixed. When the preflight checklist was resumed, not enough time remained to meet an FAA launch deadline of 4 p.m. PST.

The X-43A team is meeting to assess the ability to launch the flight tomorrow.

If the mission can be flown on Tuesday, Nov. 16, the launch window would remain from 2 to 4 p.m. Pacific time, with takeoff of the B-52B mothership that carries the X-43A / Pegasus booster to launch altitude slated for 1 p.m.

The mission is intended to flight-validate the operation of the X-43A’s supersonic-combustion ramjet – or scramjet – engine at a record airspeed of almost 10 times the speed of sound, or about 7,000 mph.

The flight is part of the Hyper-X program, a research effort designed to demonstrate air-breathing propulsion technologies for access to space and high-speed flight within the atmosphere. It will provide unique in-flight data on hypersonic air-breathing engine technologies that have large potential pay-offs.

Original Source: NASA News Release

NASA unveils its newest supercomputer today during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the agency’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The “Columbia” is one of the world’s most powerful supercomputing systems. Columbia was named to honor the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia lost Feb. 1, 2003.

“This amazing new supercomputer system dramatically increases NASA’s capabilities and revolutionizes our capacity for conducting scientific research and engineering design,” said NASA Ames Research Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. “It will be one of the fastest, largest and most productive supercomputers in the world, providing an estimated 10-fold increase in NASA’s supercomputing capacity. It is already having a major impact on NASA’s science, aeronautics and exploration programs, in addition to playing a critical role in preparing the Space Shuttle for return to safe flight next year,” Hubbard said.

Comprised of an integrated cluster of 20 interconnected SGI? Altix? 512-processor systems, for a total of 10,240 Intel? Itanium? 2 processors, Columbia was built and installed at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at Ames in less than 120 days.

“The Columbia system is a tremendous development for NASA and the nation. Simulation of the evolution of the Earth and planetary ecosystems with high fidelity has been beyond the reach of Earth scientists for decades,” NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate Ghassem Asrar said. “With Columbia, scientists are already seeing dramatic improvements in the fidelity of simulations in such areas as hurricane track prediction, global ocean circulation, prediction of large scale structures in the universe, and the physics of supernova detonations,” he said.

Columbia provides an integrated computing, visualization and data storage environment to help NASA meet its mission goals and the Vision for Space Exploration. The new system builds upon the highly successful collaboration between NASA, Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) and Intel Corporation that developed the world’s first 512-processor Linux server. The server, the SGI? Altix? located at Ames was named “Kalpana,” after Columbia astronaut and Ames’ alumna Kalpana Chawla.

“With SGI and Intel, we set out to revitalize NASA’s computing capabilities, and the Columbia system has done so in a spectacular way,” said Walt Brooks, chief of NASA’s Advanced Supercomputing Division. “Not only were scientists doing real Earth and space analysis during the system build, but within days of the full installation, we achieved a Linpack benchmark rating of 42.7 teraflops on 16 nodes with an 88 percent efficiency rating, exceeding the current best reported number by a significant margin,” he said.

“With the completion of the Columbia system, NASA, SGI and Intel have created a powerful national resource, one that will serve scientists who strive to unlock the mysteries of this planet and the universe in which it dwells,” said SGI CEO Bob Bishop. “NASA should be commended for the remarkable boldness that made the new Columbia computer happen. Our long-standing partnership with the agency has triggered a new age in scientific discovery, and based on NASA’s initial success, it seems likely that we’ll be discussing new scientific breakthroughs in the very near future,” he said.
“The launching of the Columbia system shows what’s possible when government and technology leaders work together toward a goal of truly national importance,” said Paul Otellini, president and COO of Intel Corporation. “While this Itanium 2 processor-based system will be one of the highest performing computers ever created in the world, the real value is how this system will accelerate scientific design and research faster than before for years to come.”
The almost instant productivity of the Columbia supercomputer architecture and technology has made the system available to a broad spectrum of NASA-sponsored scientists. Feedback from scientists is extremely positive. Columbia already is enabling scientists to conduct research and analyze complex data much faster in a variety of scientific disciplines. The research and analysis ranges from providing more accurate hurricane predictions, to climate change, galaxy formation, black holes and supernovas.

Thanks to the powerful Columbia supercomputer, NASA scientists have developed an improved global circulation model. Initial results from this new model accurately predict when a hurricane is expected to hit land five days in advance, three days sooner than current methods, thereby helping reduce the potential impact on life and property.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Image credit: NASA
The man who designed the original spacecraft for Project Mercury and is credited with contributing to the designs of every U.S. human spacecraft from Mercury to the Space Shuttle has died. Dr. Maxime A. Faget, who in 1958 became part of the Space Task Group that would later evolve into the NASA Johnson Space Center, died Saturday at his home in Houston. He was 83 years old.

“Without Max Faget’s innovative designs and thoughtful approach to problem solving, America’s space program would have had trouble getting off the ground,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. “He also was an aeronautics pioneer. In fact, it was his work on supersonic flight research that eventually led to his interest in space flight. The thoughts and prayers of the entire agency are with his family.”

Faget’s career with NASA dates back to 1946, when he joined the staff of Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., as a research scientist. He worked in the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division and later was named head of the Performance Aerodynamics Branch. He conceived and proposed the development of the one-man spacecraft used in Project Mercury.

Faget was selected as one of the original 35 engineers as a nucleus of the Space Task Group to carry out the Mercury project. The group also devoted a lot of time to follow-on programs and Faget led the initial design and analysis teams that studied the feasibility of a flight to the Moon. As a result of his work and other NASA research, President John F. Kennedy was able to commit the U.S. to a lunar landing by the end of the 1960s.

“Max was a genuine icon,” said NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations William Readdy, “a down-to-earth Cajun with a very nuts-and-bolts approach to engineering. He contributed immeasurably to America’s successes in human space flight. His genius allowed us to compete and win the space race to the Moon.”

“Max Faget was truly a legend of the manned space flight program,” said Christopher C. Kraft, former Johnson Space Center director. “He was a true icon of the space program. There is no one in space flight history in this or any other country who has had a larger impact on man’s quest in space exploration. He was a colleague and a friend I regarded with the highest esteem. History will remember him as one of the really great scientists of the 20th Century.”

Faget was part of the original feasibility study for the Space Shuttle. His team then focused on Shuttle development. He retired from NASA in 1981 following the second shuttle mission (STS-2). His government service career spanned four decades.

After retiring from NASA, Faget was among the founders of one of the early private space companies, Space Industries Inc., established in 1982. One of its projects was the Wake Shield Facility, built for the University of Houston and flown twice aboard the Space Shuttle to demonstrate a technique for processing material in a near-perfect vacuum.

Born on August 26, 1921, in Stann Creek, British Honduras, Faget graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1943. He joined the U.S. Navy where he saw considerable combat as an officer in the submarine service.

Faget’s numerous accomplishments include patents on the “Aerial Capsule Emergency Separation Device” (escape tower), the “Survival Couch,” the “Mercury Capsule,” and a “Mach Number Indicator.”

He received numerous honors and awards, including the Arthur S. Flemming Award, the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership, and honorary doctorate of engineering degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and Louisiana State University. He was inducted into the National Space Hall of Fame in 1969 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2003. Faget was the first recipient of the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement in 1987.

Faget was preceded in death by his wife Nancy in 1994. He is survived by four children: Ann, Carol, Guy, and Nanette; a daughter in law, two sons in law and 10 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Gordon Cooper Jr., the astronaut who piloted the sixth and last flight of the Mercury program and later commanded Gemini 5, died earlier today at his home in Ventura, Calif. He was 77 years old.

“As one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper was one of the faces of America’s fledgling space program. He truly portrayed the right stuff, and he helped gain the backing and enthusiasm of the American public, so critical for the spirit of exploration. My thoughts and prayers are with Gordon’s family during this difficult time,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.

“Cooper’s efforts and those of his fellow Mercury astronauts, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton, serve as reminders of what drives us to explore. They also remind us that to succeed any vision for exploration needs the support of the American people.”

“Gordo was one of the most straightforward people I have ever known. What you saw was what you got,” said fellow Mercury astronaut and former U.S. Senator John Glenn, in a statement released by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Another of the “Original Seven,” Wally Schirra added, “We seven were bonded like brothers, maybe even closer if that’s possible.”

“He never said ‘you can’t do it.’ He was gung ho on everything,” said Norris Gray, the NASA Fire Chief and Emergency Preparedness Officier during the Mercury days. Sam Beddingfield, then Mechanical Engineer for Project Mercury added, “He knew what he was doing and could always make things work.”

“Gordon Cooper’s legacy is permanently woven into the fabric of the Kennedy Space Center as a Mercury Seven astronaut,” said Kennedy Space Center director Jim Kennedy. “His achievements helped build the foundation of success for human space flight that NASA and KSC have benefited from for the past four decades.

“While the KSC family mourns the loss of this space pioneer, we honor his contributions and rest easy knowing his imprint on KSC will last forever. I consider it a privilege to have known Gordon Cooper. On behalf of the KSC family, I extend condolences to the Cooper family and our prayers are with them in their trying days ahead. ”

The youngest of the original seven astronauts, Cooper’s flight in his Faith 7 capsule stretched the capabilities of the Mercury spacecraft to the limits. The mission, May 15 and 16, 1963, lasted more than 34 hours and 22 orbits. That was more than three times the longest U.S. human space flight until that time, and far exceeded the initial design capability of the capsule. During his flight, Cooper also became the first astronaut to sleep in space.

“NASA’s astronauts extend their deepest sympathies to Gordon Cooper’s family,” said Kent Rominger, chief of the astronaut office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “He was among the first pioneers in space and his achievements inspired many of us to pursue our dreams of exploring our universe. We salute his many accomplishments as an astronaut and as a husband and father. He will be truly missed.”

Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. flew the troubled and suspenseful third flight of the Gemini program in August 1965. The goal of the mission was to prove astronauts could survive in space long enough to perform a lunar mission, which takes eight days.

During their eight-day mission, they experienced a number of problems with power systems, thruster fuel, venting gas that caused the spacecraft to roll, and more in a seemingly unending series. But they stayed in orbit for almost 191 hours, 122 orbits in nearly eight days, and got themselves and their spacecraft back intact. In orbit, they accomplished a “shadow rendezvous” with an imaginary spacecraft, an exercise demonstrating it could be done.

The Gemini 5 mission established a new space endurance record at the time, travelling 3,312,993 miles in 190 hours and 56 minutes. Cooper also became the first man to make a second orbital flight and thus won for the United States the lead in man-hours in space by accumulating a total of 225 hours and 15 minutes.

A Life of Service
Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born on March 6, 1927, in Shawnee, Okla. He served in the Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, then attended the University of Hawaii where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

In 1949 he was called to active duty and completed pilot training in the U.S. Air Force. From 1950 to 1954 he was a fighter pilot in Germany.

Cooper earned a bachelor’s degree at the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1956, then completed test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He served as a test pilot there until he was selected as a Mercury astronaut.

In addition to his two flights, Cooper was backup command pilot of Gemini 12, launched in November 1965. He also served as backup command pilot for Apollo 10, which flew in May 1969. He left NASA and retired from the Air Force as a colonel on July 31, 1970.

He founded Gordon Cooper and Associates that year and served as president of the consulting firm that specialized in activities ranging from aerospace to hotel and land development projects. Cooper was a director of a number of other organizations, most specializing in energy, advanced electronics systems, efficient homes, boats and marine systems and equipment.

In 1975, he became vice president for research and development for Walter E. Disney Enterprises Inc. of Glendale, Calif., the research and development subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions.

Throughout his life, Cooper pursued a wide range of activities, both professionally and as hobbies. A NASA biography lists his hobbies as treasure hunting, archaeology, racing, flying, skiing, boating, hunting and fishing. Among his numerous awards were the Air Force Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross with cluster, NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, the Collier Trophy and the Harmon Trophy.

He was the first active-duty military man to address joint sessions of Congress twice.

Cooper continued to design and test new aircraft in Southern California, never giving up his passion for pushing the envelope. Cooper told a reporter when he was 71, “I get cranky if I don’t fly at least three times a month.”

Original Source: NASA News Release

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) has announced its 2004 Phase 1 awards. Twelve proposals to boldly go beyond the frontiers of space exploration were selected for a six-month study period beginning in October 2004.

The NIAC was created in 1998 to solicit revolutionary concepts from people and organizations outside the agency that could greatly advance NASA’s missions. The proposals push the limits of known science and technology. The proposals are expected to take at least a decade to be fully realized. NIAC’s intention is to discover ideas that may result in beneficial changes to NASA’s long-range plans.

“We are thrilled to team up with imaginative people from industry and universities to discover innovative systems that meet the tremendous challenge of space exploration and development,” said Dr. Robert Cassanova of the Universities Space Research Organization (USRA), and NIAC director. The USRA runs the Institute for NASA.

The NIAC sponsors research in two phases. Proposals selected for Phase 1 awards typically receive up to $75,000 for a six-month study that validates the viability of the concept and identifies challenges that must be overcome to make the proposal a reality.

The results of the Phase 1 studies are evaluated. The most promising are selected for further research into the major feasibility issues associated with cost, performance, development time, and technology through a Phase 2 award. Phase 2 studies can be up to two years long and receive as much as $400,000.

Proposals selected for the 2004 Phase 1 awards:

? A Deep-Field Infrared Observatory near the Lunar Pole (Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Roger J. Angel, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.)

? Extremely Large Swarm Array of Picosats for Microwave/RF Earth Sensing, Radiometry, and Mapping (PI: Ivan Bekey, Bekey Designs Inc., Annandale, Va.)

? Redesigning Living Organisms to Survive on Mars (PI: Dr. Wendy F. Boss, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.)

? Analysis of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation Shield Concept (PI: Dr. Charles R. Buhler, ASRC Aerospace Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, Fla.)

? New Worlds Imager (PI: Dr. Webster Cash, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.)

? Efficient Direct Conversion of Sunlight to Coherent Light at High Average Power in Space (PI: Dr. Richard Fork, University of Alabama, Huntsville, Ala.)

? Use of Superconducting Magnet Technology for Astronaut Radiation Protection (PI: Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston)

? Wide-Bandwidth Deep-Space Quantum Communications (PI: Ricky Morgan, Morgan Optics Corporation, San Diego)

? Lunar Space Elevators for Cislunar Space Development (PI: Jerome Pearson, Star Technology and Research, Inc., Mount Pleasant, S.C.)

? Large-Product General-Purpose Design and Manufacturing Using Nanoscale Modules (PI: Chris Phoenix, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, Brooklyn, N.Y.)

? Magnetized Beamed Plasma Propulsion (PI: Dr. Robert M. Winglee of the University of Washington, Seattle)

? A Self-Sustaining, Boundary-Layer-Adapted System for Terrain Exploration and Environmental Sampling (PI: Dr. Craig A. Woolsey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.)

Original Source: NASA News Release

SpaceDev has begun designing a reuseable, piloted, sub-orbital space ship that could be scaled up to safely and economically transport passengers to and from low earth orbit, including the International Space Station. The name of the vehicle is the ?SpaceDev Dream Chaser.?

SpaceDev?s founding chairman and CEO, Jim Benson, recently signed a Space Act Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NASA Ames Research Center director, Dr. Scott Hubbard. This non-binding MOU confirms the intention of the two parties to explore novel, hybrid rocket propulsion based hypersonic test beds for routine human space access. The parties will explore collaborative partnerships to investigate the potential of using SpaceDev?s proven hybrid propulsion and other technologies, and a low cost, private space program development approach, to establish and design new piloted small launch vehicles and flight test platforms to enable near-term, low-cost routine space access for NASA and the United States. One possibility for collaboration is the SpaceDev Dream Chaser? project, which is currently being discussed with NASA Ames.

Unlike the more complex SpaceShipOne, for which SpaceDev provides critical proprietary hybrid rocket motor propulsion technologies, the SpaceDev Dream Chaser? would be crewed and take-off vertically, like most launch vehicles, and will glide back for a normal horizontal runway landing.

?This project is one small step for SpaceDev, but could evolve into one giant leap for affordable, commercial human space flight,? said Jim Benson. ?I have been waiting for almost fifty years for commercial space flight, and have concluded that SpaceDev, through our unbroken string of successful space technology developments, now has the technical capability and know-how, along with our partners, and when fully funded, to quickly develop a safe and affordable human space flight program, beginning with sub-orbital flights in the near future, and building up to reliable orbital public space transportation hopefully by the end of this decade.?

?I am delighted that we will be working with SpaceDev to help meet the goals of The Vision for Space Exploration,? said G. Scott Hubbard, director of NASA Ames Research Center, located in California?s Silicon Valley. ?Near-term, low-cost, crewed and uncrewed routine space access is a key for realizing the nation?s Exploration Vision. I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with SpaceDev to explore the technologies for a new class of exciting launch vehicles for future space exploration.?

The sub-orbital SpaceDev Dream Chaser is derived from an existing X-Plane concept and will have an altitude goal of approximately 160 km (about 100 miles) and will be powered by a single, high performance hybrid rocket motor, under parallel development by SpaceDev for the SpaceDev Streaker?, a family of small, expendable launch vehicles, designed to affordably deliver small satellites to low earth orbit. The SpaceDev Dream Chaser will use motor technology being developed for the SpaceDev Streaker? booster stage, the most powerful motor in the Streaker family. The SpaceDev Dream Chaser motor will produce approximately 100,000 pounds of thrust, about six times the thrust of the SpaceShipOne motor, but less than one-half the thrust of the 250,000 pounds of thrust produced by hybrid rocket motors developed several years ago by the American Rocket Company (AMROC).

SpaceDev?s non-explosive hybrid rocket motors use synthetic rubber as the fuel, and nitrous oxide for the oxidizer to make the rubber burn. Traditional rocket motors use two liquids, or a solid propellant that combines the fuel and oxidizer, but both types of rocket motors are explosive, and all solid motors produce copious quantities of toxic exhaust. SpaceDev?s hybrid rocket motors are non-toxic and do not detonate like solid or liquid rocket motors.

Original Source: SpaceDev News Release

NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are riding out Hurricane Ivan, which made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, overnight. NASA has made preparations to secure important space flight hardware against damage.

Stennis, where Space Shuttle engines are tested before flight, is about 45 miles inland near the Mississippi-Louisiana border and is home to about 300 NASA personnel and 1,250 NASA contractors as well as employees from other agencies. Workers there were sent home Tuesday, Sept. 14 to prepare for the storm, and the center is not expected to open before Friday, Sept. 17. Information for Stennis employees will be posted on http://www.nasa.gov/stennis as it becomes available.

A team of about 50 essential personnel will ride out the storm at Stennis. Two flight-qualified Space Shuttle Main Engines at Stennis have been secured; one was put back into its container, and the other was wrapped in plastic. Two developmental engines were enclosed on their test stands and protected.

A ride-out team will also remain in place through the storm at Michoud, across the Mississippi-Louisiana border about 40 miles to the southwest of Stennis. The NASA facility, operated by Lockheed-Martin, manufactures and assembles the large Space Shuttle external fuel tanks, and is home to about 3,900 employees from NASA, Lockheed-Martin and other agencies. Lockheed Martin and NASA workers were dismissed Tuesday, Sept. 14. to make preparations at home, and the facility is not expected to open before Friday, Sept. 17. Contact information for Michoud employees is available at http://www.nasa.gov/marshall.

The shuttle fuel tanks at Michoud have been secured. Equipment has been moved indoors, facilities have been sandbagged, and important materials — such as insulating foam and adhesive — have been loaded onto trucks to be transported out of the area, if necessary.

KSC Recovering From Frances
Meanwhile, approximately 14,000 people returned to work at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) this week, following an 11-day closure due to Hurricane Frances. Recovery efforts are already underway.

“We really saw our readiness for hurricanes Charley and Frances pay off,” said William Readdy, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations. “KSC was in the path of those two strong storms, and while some of our buildings were damaged, we made sure our workforce was safe and had no injuries. We were also able to protect our three Space Shuttles, our International Space Station components, and other key hardware.”

During the closure, the KSC Damage Assessment and Recovery Team (DART) completed initial damage assessments. KSC weathered sustained winds greater than 70 mph and gusts as high as 94 mph. A thorough assessment of KSC’s 900 facilities and buildings continues and could take weeks or months to complete.

The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the Thermal Protection System Facility (TPSF) and the Processing Control Center (PCC) received significant damage. The Operations and Checkout Building, Vertical Processing Facility, Hangar AE, Hangar S, and Hangar AF Small Parts Facility received substantial damage.

Original Source: NASA News Release

For one of the world’s biggest buildings, before and after images captured the force of the storm. With its footprint the size of Texas, hurricane Frances had pounded Cape Canaveral over the weekend and left a natural scar on one of the world’s manmade wonders.

Originally built for assembly of Apollo/Saturn vehicles and later modified to support Space Shuttle operations, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is often referred to as the only enclosed space big enough for interior clouds to form. But when a hurricane looms off the Florida coast and dark clouds gather to drench the beaches, the novelty of forming interior clouds loses some of its charm.

It is not the tallest, just one of the more spacious. Its high-bay area is 525 feet tall (more than 45 stories high), while its low-bay area is 210 feet tall. The VAB occupies 8 acres of land, making it the largest in volume (129 million cubic feet). The volume is like half the height of the tallest skyscraper, but then with that same tower turned on three axes, with nearly equal height, width and depth. When open, the T-shaped door alone is more than 40 stories tall.

When constructed in the 1960’s to stack the Saturn rockets–each about the size of an aircraft carrier if stood up vertically–the VAB came to symbolize big-scale thinking. In addition to sheltering the Apollo rockets, it could accomodate rollbacks of a shuttle during the predictable fall hurricane season. In total, six skyscrapers could fit inside what is the landmark against an otherwise flat Florida marsh lacking an urban skyline. But from its outset, if NASA needed a building to shelter a moon rocket, then a group of construction engineers would conceive hoisting the biggest one of its kind.

Max Urbahn, who headed the design team of architects and engineers for the Vehicle Assembly Building stated the design challenge well when he said: “The VAB is not so much a building to house a moon vehicle as a machine to build a moon craft. The Launch Control Center that monitors and tests every component that goes into an Apollo vehicle is not so much a building as an almost-living brain.”

When General Thomas Stafford testified to the Presidential blue-ribbon commission on “Moon to Mars and Beyond”, he cited specifically how remarkable the early sixties were for construction on the Florida coast. “In the early 1960’s the Cape was strictly palmettos, rattlesnakes, and palm trees. In 6 years, that was built to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and we launched the first Saturn flag. And most of it was done with a slide rule.”

As the VAB tried to weather 100 mile-per-hour gales, the adage that ‘build it and they will come’ took on special significance: those who had to evacuate included nearly the entire 14,000 person Kennedy Space Center (KSC). According to its design specifications, the VAB doors can withstand winds of 125 miles per hour and can be opened and closed in a 63 mile-per-hour wind. The building lived up to its design, but its integrity was questionable earlier in the week when Frances looked like it might make landfall with 140 mph force winds.

As NASA Administrator, Sean O’Keefe described in a statement: “Kennedy Space Center suffered significant damage as Hurricane Frances swept across Florida.” After the weekend, early assessment of this landmark facility showed about 820 panels were torn off the VAB during the storm. Initial review of the interior, however, indicated no serious damage to equipment, including two Space Shuttle External Tanks.

Preliminary inspections of the center’s two launch pads indicate they appear in good shape. The SWIFT spacecraft for studying Gamma Ray Bursts, which is scheduled for launch early next month, also appears fine, but the building where it rode out the storm did sustain damage. Also, power was restored today to the third and final Orbital Processing Facility, which houses the Space Shuttle Discovery.

In addition to housing the shuttle rocket stacks, many astrobiology missions have historical ties to critical assets at the Cape. From the Hubble telescope launch to various human missions on space station, the shuttle stack has been mounted in the VAB. In fact the skyline at Cape Canaveral gives a running account of important astrobiology objectives. During a controlled explosion in October 2000, the historical launch pad 41 dating back to 1965 gave way to a new Atlas V tower. That part of the now modified Florida skyline had witnessed the launch of two Viking missions to Mars and Voyager’s planetary probe, both of which had led the way for modern astrobiology missions to the inner and outer solar system.

O’Keefe spoke to the NASA tradition of recovery, when he concluded that “We have a documented history of overcoming adversity and pulling together.” NASA has not assessed yet whether the storm damage will affect the planned spring reflight of the shuttle as it returns to orbit since the Columbia tragedy.

Original Source: NASA Astrobiology Article