Steve Swanson, commander of Expedition 40, during a spacewalk on 2007 shuttle mission STS-117. Credit: NASA
Update, 10:13 p.m. EDT: Tonight’s docking with the International Space Station will not happen because one of the engine firings scheduled to happen did not take place when it was supposed to. The crew is safe, according to NASA, and going to a standard backup plan that should bring the craft to the station on Thursday (2 days from now). Roscosmos is examining the issue. We will provide updates as warranted.
Update, 6:43 p.m. EDT: The Soyuz is on its way to space after an on-time launch — and by the way, astronauts saw it leave from the space station! It’s en route and NASA is still expecting an arrival around 11:04 p.m. EDT., which you can watch live on NASA TV above.
Despite tensions on the ground between the United States and Russia, officials say that it’s business as usual on the International Space Station. The three people launching to space today, in fact, are from both countries: Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and Steve Swanson from NASA.
As has been the habit lately, the Expedition 39/40 crew will take a faster route to the International Space Station that see launch and docking happen in the same day, should all go to plan. It all begins with the launch at 5:17 p.m. EDT (9:17 p.m. UTC) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with docking scheduled to happen at 11:04 p.m. EDT (3:04 a.m. UTC).
Bear in mind that schedules are subject to change, so it’s a good idea to watch NASA TV (see video above) well before each milestone to see if things are happening on time. Once the crew arrives at station, one big question is if they’ll do spacewalks when they get there.
Last July, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano experienced a severe water leak in his NASA spacesuit that sent the crew scrambling back to the station. While Parmitano emerged physically all right, the agency opened an investigation and suspended all non-essential activities. A report was issued in February and the agency pledged to deal with all the urgent items quickly.
Spacewalks are planned for Expedition 40, but only if these urgent items are cleared in time for that. (That expedition begins in May and will include NASA astronauts Alex Gerst, Reid Wiseman and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev.)
The launch of Expedition 39/40's Steve Swanson, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev as seen from space. Picture captured by NASA's Rick Mastracchio aboard the International Space Station on March 25, 2014. Credit: Rick Mastracchio
Seriously, how cool is this picture? The International Space Station crew caught an incredible view of their three future crewmates rocketing up to meet them today around 5:17 p.m. EDT (9:17 p.m. UTC).
Expedition 39’s Rick Mastracchio (from NASA) shared this on Twitter, casually mentioning that he will expect more crewmates to arrive later today. Upon the rocket were Steve Swanson (NASA), Alexander Skvortsov (Roscosmos) and Oleg Artemyev (Roscosmos).
Check out the launch video and some NASA pictures of the activities below the jump. (Update, 10:21 p.m. EDT: One of the engine firings did not take place as planned, meaning the astronauts will not dock with the station as planned tonight. The crew is safe and doing a standard backup plan that will bring them to the station on Thursday. We will provide updates as the situation progresses.)
Three models of NASA's Z-2 suit unveiled to the public in March 2014 for people to vote on their favorite design. From left, "Biomimicry", "Technology" and "Trends In Society." Click for a larger version. Credit: NASA (Photo combination: Elizabeth Howell)
If you ever wanted to participate in spacesuit design, even in a small way, here’s your big chance. NASA is asking the public to choose which design of the futuristic Z-2 “planetary mobility” suit prototype will be used by astronauts while evaluating how well the spacesuit works.
There are three options (which you can see above), and NASA promises the winning design will be used in pool training at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, the Johnson Space Center “rockyard” to simulate Mars exploration, and in vacuum tests. Outer space is not an option because of “micrometeorite, thermal and radiation protection” considerations, however.
In NASA’s words, here’s a quick summary of the prototypes:
Biomimicry: The “Biomimicry” design draws from an environment with many parallels to the harshness of space: the world’s oceans. Mirroring the bioluminescent qualities of aquatic creatures found at incredible depths, and the scaly skin of fish and reptiles found across the globe, this design reflects the qualities that protect some of Earth’s toughest creatures.
Technology: “Technology” pays homage to spacesuit achievements of the past while incorporating subtle elements of the future. By using Luminex wire and light-emitting patches, this design puts a new spin on spacewalking standards such as ways to identify crew members.
Trends In Society: “Trends in Society” is based off of just that: being reflective of what every day clothes may look like in the not too distant future. This suit uses electroluminescent wire and a bright color scheme to mimic the appearance of sportswear and the emerging world of wearable technologies.
The Z-2 includes several improvements over its Z-1 predecessor, which won an invention award from Time magazine in 2012. These include a “hard composite” upper torso that is intended to be more durable, better shoulder and hip joints, and boots that would be more useful on a planet.
An astronaut retrieves a sample from an asteroid in this artist's conception. Credit: NASA
Got some ideas about how to snag an asteroid? NASA has just announced $6 million in opportunities for its asteroid retrieval initiative, which would see astronauts explore one of these space rocks in the 2020s if the agency receives budgetary approval to go through with the idea.
First proposed in the 2014 fiscal year budget (which has yet to be approved by Congress), the agency is moving forward with the idea by getting ideas from industry about the best way to approach the asteroid, capture it, and other priority areas. Up to 25 proposals will be selected.
The announcement comes just ahead of a one-day conference to (in part) gather public ideas for the mission. For those who weren’t able to snag one of the sold-out seats, NASA is offering virtual attendance at the forum. Follow the instructions at this page and then make a note of the program schedule on Wednesday.
In NASA’s words, these are the topics that are priority areas for solicitation:
Asteroid capture system concepts including using deployable structures and autonomous robotic manipulators;
Rendezvous sensors that can be used for a wide range of mission applications including automated rendezvous and docking and asteroid characterization and proximity operations;
Commercial spacecraft design, manufacture, and test capabilities that could be adapted for development of the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle (ARV);
Studies of potential future partnership opportunities for secondary payloads on either the ARV or the SLS;
Studies of potential future partnership opportunities for the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission, or other future missions, in areas such as advancing science and in-situ resource utilization, enabling commercial activities, and enhancing U.S. exploration activities in cis-lunar space after the first crewed mission to an asteroid.
“NASA is developing two mission concepts for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM): one concept uses a robotic spacecraft to capture a whole small near-Earth asteroid, and the second concept uses largely the same robotic spacecraft to capture a cohesive mass from a larger asteroid,” the agency added in the solicitation documents.
Artist’s conception of NASA’s asteroid retrieval mission. Credit: NASA
“In both mission concepts, the asteroid mass would be redirected into a stable orbit around the Moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft launched on the Space Launch System (SLS) would rendezvous with the captured asteroid mass in lunar orbit and collect samples for return to Earth.”
The agency is framing this initiative as a way to prepare for longer-duration missions (such as going to Mars) as well as better characterizing the threat from asteroids — which is certainly on many people’s minds after a meteor broke up over Chelyabinsk, Russia just over a year ago.
Expedition 10 commander Leroy Chiao is reflected in a water sphere on board the International Space Station in 2004. Credit: NASA
“Here on board the ISS, we turn yesterday’s coffee into tomorrow’s coffee” is a slogan that sounds a little like a Don Draper-led advertising campaign. Seriously, though, it’s a nifty way in which Expedition 39 commander Koichi Wakata describes in this video (also embedded below) how the astronauts drink purified urine on the station.
The water is perfectly hygienic once it runs through the system, and moreover, it could be a useful trick for future space colonists to remember.
Water is heavy, at about 8.3 pounds per gallon (or roughly 1 kg/liter) at room temperature. And astronauts in space do need to go through a lot of it to prevent dehydration and other illnesses. Throw in demanding activities such as exercising two hours a day or going on a spacewalk, and you can see how quickly people in space go through it.
Everything sent into space has an associated launch cost with it, and space engineers are always looking for ways to shave a few grams here or there. By installing the water purification system (which was completed in 2009 with Wakata on board), NASA said it would be able to reduce the amount sent up to station.
When people speak of space colonies on the Moon or Mars, they often talk about landing them near a large source of water ice and then using that to help support the people working there. As NASA once wrote in a worksheet, “Until an orbiting grocery store is opened, recycling of water and air will be crucial for crew survival.”
Check out Wakata’s explanation of the water recycling system below. For more information on recycling water in Mars colonies, one source to start with could be T. A. Heppenheimer’s “Colonies In Space”, published on the National Space Society website.
Sensors aboard NASA’s Terra satellite are aiding the search for MH 370. Credit: NASA
NASA has actively joined the hunt for the missing Malaysian Airline flight MH-370 that mysteriously disappeared without a trace more than two weeks ago on March 8, 2014.
Sensors aboard at least two of NASA’s unmanned Earth orbiting global observation satellites as well as others flying on the manned International Space Station (ISS) are looking for signs of the jetliner that could aid the investigators from a multitude of nations and provide some small measure of comfort to the grieving families and loved ones of the passengers aboard.
“Obviously NASA isn’t a lead agency in this effort. But we’re trying to support the search, if possible,” Allard Beutel, NASA Headquarters, Office of Communications director, told Universe Today this evening.
NASA’s airplane search assistance comes in two forms; mining existing space satellite observing data and retargeting space based assets for new data gathering since the incident.
The Malaysian Airline Boeing 777-2H6ER jetliner went missing on March 8 while cruising en route from Kuala Lampur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. See cockpit photo below.
Accurate facts on why MH-370 vanished with 239 passengers aboard have sadly been few and far between.
Chinese satellite image of possible debris of MH 370. Credit: China/SASTIND
Last week, the search area shifted to a wide swath in the southern Indian Ocean when potential aircraft debris was spotted in a new series of separate satellite images from Australia and China government officials.
A prior set of official Chinese government satellite images at a different location yielded absolutely nothing.
The area is now focused 2,500 km (1,600 mi) south west of Perth, a city on the western coast of Australia.
NASA’s search support was triggered upon activation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters.
Available data from NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites has already been transmitted to the U.S. Geological Survey and new data are now being collected in the search area.
“In response to activation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters last week regarding the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, NASA sent relevant space-based data to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observations and Science Hazard Data Distribution System that facilitates the distribution of data for Charter activations,” according to a NASA statement.
And it’s important to note that NASA satellites and space-based cameras are designed for long-term scientific data gathering and Earth observation.
“They’re really not meant to look for a missing aircraft,” Beutel stated.
“The archive of global Earth-observing satellite data is being mined for relevant images. These include broad-area views from the MODIS [instrument] on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites,” Beutel informed me.
The next step was to retarget both satellites and another high resolution camera aboard the ISS.
“In addition, two NASA high-resolution assets have been targeted to take images of designated search areas: the Earth Observing-1 satellite and the ISERV camera on the International Space Station,” Beutel explained.
Sensors aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite are aiding the search for MH 370. Credit: NASA
Aqua and Terra were already gathering new observations with the MODIS instrument in the search area off Australia last week. MODIS measures changes in Earth’s cloud cover.
Here are the satellite observation times and capabilities:
• MODIS on the Aqua satellite observed at about 1:30 p.m. local time as it passes overhead from pole-to-pole
• MODIS on the Terra satellite observed at about 10:30 a.m. local time
• The width (field of view) of a MODIS observation is 2,300 kilometers
• One pixel of a MODIS image – the limit of how small a feature it can see – is about 1 kilometer.
A new set of high resolution Earth imaging cameras are being sent to the ISS and are loaded aboard the SpaceX CRS-3 Dragon resupply capsule now slated for blastoff on March 30.
The newly launchedNASA/JAXAGPM precipitation monitoring satellite which will cover this ocean area in the future is still in the midst of science instrument checkout.
The International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth orbit. Credit: NASA
Ships and planes from at least 26 countries have been being dispatched to the new based on the new satellite imagery to search for debris and the black boxes recording all the critical engineering data and cockpit voices of the pilot and copilot and aid investigators as to what happened.
No one knows at this time why the Malaysia Airlines flight mysteriously disappeared.
Map of possible MH 370 debris locations published 1: 12 March (disproved), 2: 20–23 March 2014. Credit: Wikipedia
Flight deck view of the missing MH 370 aircraft, showing many of the communication systems now under investigation. Credit: Chris FinneyPhoto of Malaysia Air Boeing 777-200
Martian landscape with rows of curved rock outcrops at ‘Kimberly’ in the foreground and spectacular Mount Sharp on the horizon. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover pulled into Kimberly waypoint dominated by layered rock outcrops as likely drilling site. This colorized navcam camera photomosaic was assembled from imagery taken on Sol 576 (Mar. 20, 2014). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
Martian landscape with rows of curved rock outcrops at ‘Kimberley’ in the foreground and spectacular Mount Sharp on the horizon. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover pulled into Kimberly waypoint dominated by layered rock outcrops as likely drilling site. This colorized navcam camera photomosaic was assembled from imagery taken on Sol 576 (Mar. 20, 2014).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
See additional Curiosity Mars photomosaics below[/caption]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA’s Curiosity rover has just pulled into gorgeous terrain chock full of curvy rock outcrops at Kimberley that’s suitable for contact science and drilling action, according to the mission team.
The six wheeled Martian dune buggy drove into the dazzling Kimberley waypoint this week after traversing a swath of otherworldly dune fields since passing through a gateway known as the ‘Dingo Gap’ sand dune some six weeks ago.
The robot’s arm has been deployed to investigate the most scientifically productive spots to touch Kimberley’s textured outcrops for detailed scrutiny.
The science team has been hunting for tasty rock outcrops suitable for the first drilling campaign since she departed the dried out lakebed at Yellowknife Bay in July 2013 and began her epic trek across the floor of Gale Crater towards the base of Mount Sharp.
With each passing Sol, or Martian day, Mount Sharp looms larger and larger and the historical layers with deposits of hydrated minerals potentially indicative of an alien habitable zone come ever clearer into focus.
About a month ago on Feb. 19 (Sol 548), Curiosity couldn’t resist the urge to pause mid dune drive, just like a tourist, and snap fabulous imagery of multiple rows of striated rocks at the Junda outcrop – see our mosaics below.
Junda appeared remarkably similar to Kimberley, about 1 kilometer back.
Curiosity looks back at Martian sand dunes and rover tracks after passing by Junda outcrop (right) on Sol 548 (Feb. 19, 2014) with Gale Crater rim and Mount Sharp on the distant horizon. Navcam colorized photomosaic. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo
So after executing a final series of short bumps edging ever closer to the outcrops this week, Curiosity parked at the periphery of Kimberley on Thursday, March 20, Sol 576, and captured breathtaking imagery of the rocky rows dominated by towering Mount Sharp on the distant horizon.
See our photomosaics showing the spectacularly inviting terrain around Kimberley and Junda – above and below by Marco Di Lorenzo and Ken Kremer.
“The images [at Kimberley] show nice outcrops in front of the rover, suitable for contact science,” according to science team member Ken Herkenhoff in a mission update.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover will likely drill into this layered rock outcrop, near the center of the mosaic, at the Kimberly waypoint. This photomosaic was assembled from high resolution Mastcam 34 camera images taken on Sol 574 (March 18, 2014). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
This weekend, the state of the art robot is conducting contact science with the cameras and spectrometers on the terminus of the 7 foot long robotic arm and the mast mounted ChemCam laser and high resolution cameras to determine the best spot for drilling and sampling.
The team commanded Curiosity to clean out the arms CHIMRA sample handling mechanism in anticipation of boring into the Martian outcrops and delivering powdery, pulverized samples of cored Martian rocks to the SAM and CheMin miniaturized chemistry labs waiting patiently inside the robots belly to eat something exciting from the Red Planet.
“The arm will be deployed to “thwack” and vibrate CHIMRA to clean out any remnants of the “John Klein” [drilling] sample, followed by Mastcam and RMI imaging of the CHIMRA sieve,” says Herkenhoff.
Scientists directed Curiosity on a pinpoint drive to Kimberly after their interest was piqued by orbital images taken by the powerful telescopic camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) circling overhead.
“At Kimberly, we see three terrain types exposed and a relatively dust-free surface,” said science team collaborator Katie Stack of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
Flattened fisheye hazcam camera view of Kimberly rock outcrop and Mount Sharp backdrop, taken on Sol 576 (Mar. 20, 2014) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
The missions science focus has shifted to “search for that subset of habitable environments which also preserves organic carbon,” says Curiosity Principal Investigator John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Organic molecules are the building blocks of life as we know it.
The sedimentary foothills of Mount Sharp, which reaches 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the Martian sky, is the 1 ton robots ultimate destination inside Gale Crater because it holds caches of water altered minerals. Such minerals could possibly indicate locations that sustained potential Martian life forms, past or present, if they ever existed.
Curiosity discovered a habitable zone at Yellowknife via two drilling operations at the John Klein and Cumberland outcrops and thereby accomplished the primary goal of the mission.
Mars rock rows and Mount Sharp. Martian landscape scene with rows of striated rocks in the foreground and Mount Sharp on the horizon. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover paused mid drive at the Junda outcrop to snap the component images for this navcam camera photomosaic on Sol 548 (Feb. 19, 2014) and then continued traveling southwards towards mountain base. UHF Antenna at right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
To date Curiosity’s odometer stands at 6.2 kilometers. She has taken over 132,000 images.
The robot has somewhat over another 4 kilometers to go to reach the base of Mount Sharp.
She may arrive at the lower reaches of Mount Sharp sometime in mid 2014, but must first pass through a potentially treacherous dune field.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Curiosity, Opportunity, Chang’e-3, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, LADEE, MAVEN, MOM, Mars and more planetary and human spaceflight news.
Learn more at Ken’s upcoming presentations at the NEAF convention on April 12/13 and at Washington Crossing State Park, NJ on April 6. Also evenings at the Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, March 24/25 and March 29/30.
The Dragon spacecraft, filled with about 4,600 lbs of cargo bound for the space station, is mated with Falcon 9. Credit: SpaceX
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Following last week’s sudden and late in the processing flow postponement of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch, SpaceX announced a reset of its next cargo mission launch for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS) to a new target date of Sunday, March 30.
The commercially developed Falcon 9 booster and Dragon cargo vessel are slated for a spectacular night time liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:50 p.m. EDT on March 30, SpaceX announced on Friday.
This mission, soaring to space under a resupply contract to NASA, could ignite a revolution in both rocketry and robotics.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket sports a quartet of never before tried landing legs and the Dragon freighter is loaded with a set of lanky legs to enable mobility in space for NASA’s Robonaut 2 standing at the cutting edge of space robotics technology.
Launch preparations were suddenly halted less than 72 hours prior to the then planned March 16 early morning launch because of unspecified technical issues concerning the sudden discovery of “contamination,” sources told me.
The Falcon 9 rocket with landing legs in SpaceX’s hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fl, preparing to launch Dragon to the space station this Sunday March 30. Credit: SpaceX
“To ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance and allow additional time to resolve remaining open items, the team is taking additional time to resolve open items and ensure SpaceX does everything possible on the ground to prepare for a successful launch,” according to a statement from SpaceX.
Several sources told me that the problem related to “contamination” that was found in the “unpressurized truck section” at the rear of the Dragon spacecraft.
“An unknown contaminant of unknown origin was found on a blanket in the Dragon trunk,” independent sources said to Universe Today soon after the postponement was announced.
“After careful review and analysis, engineering teams representing both the ISS and SpaceX have determined Dragon is ready to fly ‘as-is.’ All parties agree that the particular constituents observed in Dragon’s trunk are in line with the previously defined environments levels and do not impose additional risk to the payloads,” SpaceX announced in a new statement.
With the contamination issues now resolved, the launch is back on track.
Robonaut 2 engineering model equipped with new legs like those heading to the ISS on upcoming SpaceX CRS-3 launch were on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on March 15, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
NASA Television will air live coverage on Sunday.
In case the launch is delayed, the backup launch opportunity is at 9:39 p.m. Wednesday, April 2.
Altogether, this unmanned SpaceX CRS-3 mission will deliver over 5000 pounds of science experiments, a pair of legs for Robonaut 2, a high definition imaging camera suite, an optical communications experiment and essential gear, spare parts, crew provisions, food, clothing and supplies to the six person crews living and working aboard the ISS soaring in low Earth orbit under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.
SpaceX is under contract to NASA to deliver 20,000 kg (44,000 pounds) of cargo to the ISS during a dozen Dragon cargo spacecraft flights over the next few years at a cost of about $1.6 Billion.
To date SpaceX has completed two operational cargo resupply missions and a test flight. The last flight dubbed CRS-2 blasted off a year ago on March 1, 2013 atop the initial version of the Falcon 9 rocket.
Following the rescheduled March 30 launch and a series of orbit raising and course corrections over the next two days, Dragon will rendezvous and dock at the Earth facing port on the station’s Harmony module on Wednesday, April 2.
Falcon 9 SpaceX CRS-2 launch of Dragon spacecraft on March 1, 2013 to the ISS from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.- shot from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: Ken Kremer/www.kenkremer.com
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, commercial space, Orion, Chang’e-3, LADEE, Mars rover, MAVEN, MOM and more planetary and human spaceflight news.
Learn more at Ken’s upcoming presentations at the NEAF astro/space convention on April 12/13 and at Washington Crossing State Park, NJ on April 6. Also evenings at the Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, March 24/25 and March 29/30
.
And watch for Ken’s upcoming SpaceX launch coverage at Cape Canaveral & the Kennedy Space Center press site.
Part of the vast set of space memorabilia of Joe Lennox, a private collector based in the New York City area. Credit: Joe Lennox
We’re all space geeks at Universe Today and are used to seeing collections of memorabilia, but there’s something about Joe Lennox’s that makes us set our phasers to stunned. Ever since John Glenn first rocketed to space 52 years ago, Lennox has been amassing a collection of newspaper articles, astronaut autographs, books and other memorabilia that he has on display in his New York City-area home.
As a child, he had to fight to save stuff with his sister; they eventually agreed to a “joint venture”, Lennox said. For 10 years, they clipped newspapers, wrote to NASA astronauts and space program employees (collecting their responses), and started branching out to movies and other things covering space exploration. Their mother allowed them to display the items in a back bedroom. Eventually, the interest of Lennox’s sister faded, but his only deepened.
The collection has been through a few moves; his parents moved in 1978, meaning the stuff had to be stored wherever Lennox could find storage space until he and his wife bought their own house in 1990. There’s a spare bedroom available to display the collection, but the pictures indicate it’s simply bursting with items.
“My only problem is I don’t have enough room, because obviously as the years go by, I write (more) letters and purchase things,” Lennox told Universe Today.
Patches adorn a wall in the private collection of Joe Lennox, a New York City-area space fan who has a vast space-y collection. Credit: Joe Lennox
Lennox makes sure to display his collection as carefully as he can. Scrapbook pages are acid-free, and letters are stored in acid-free folders as well. He says he has received space hardware (sometimes flown hardware) from contractors and others over the years, which he keeps in sealed display cases. Anything that remains outside of a sealed environment gets covered with a cloth when he’s not showing off the collection to house visitors.
It would be very difficult for a space fan to build such a collection today, he adds. NASA’s rules about “flown items” and other space memorabilia are tougher, with most items going to places such as the Smithsonian. Fewer people seem to answer his letters, too, Lennox said. “In the old days, if I wrote 100 letters, I would venture to say we got 95 really, really good responses. Today, if I wrote 100 letters I might get five responses. It’s very depressing, I got to tell you.”
With Lennox’s interest, a natural next question would be to ask if he ever considered working for NASA itself. While he never got that chance, the story ends up being a good one for the schoolkids he regularly speaks with.
Joe Lennox speaking with schoolchildren about space exploration in this undated photo. Credit: Joe Lennox
Lennox said he never wanted to be an astronaut — “I’m not smart enough and don’t have the courage” — but he did have aspirations to be a flight controller. He said he began his university engineering studies with the idea for working for NASA, and happily worked away at his degree for a year and a half. Then he discovered he was going blind, requiring two corneal transplants.
The transplants worked, but it delayed his studies by four years and his eyesight was not as good as it used to be, meaning Lennox felt it was best to switch careers. He ended up in the banking industry, still writing letters to NASA and others the entire time. Now retired, he’s switching his energies over to teaching kids about space.
“I give presentations throughout New Jersey, 45 or 50 a year, where I go and I teach people about the space program,” he said. “I teach kids, I teach adults, I have probably 30 or 40 different presentations.”
His big message: “I want the children to understand they should never give up on their goals. If they have a goal in their life and it seems it can’t be reached because of health, like me, or money or relocation or whatever, they still can do it.”
You can see more pictures of Lennox’s “museum” below or at his website. He said he has willed the collection to an Orlando-area museum upon his death, meaning it could be viewable by the public in generations to come.
Books from the collection of Joe Lennox, a space fan with a vast collection of space memorabilia in the New York City area. Credit: Joe LennoxA signed picture from now-retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is part of the large space memorabilia collection that Joe Lennox has. The inscription reads, “To Joe Lennox: Many thanks for your unparalleled support and enthusiasm. Chris Hadfield / STS-74 / MS1.” Credit: Joe LennoxAn Apollo 11 first-day cover in the collection of Joe Lennox, a New York City-area space collector. Credit: Joe LennoxJoe Lennox’s collection includes a vast set of space-related items, including some that he says were used by astronauts. Source: Joe Lennox
A virtual-reality view of what it would look like if you were floating away from the International Space Station. Credit: European Space Agency (YouTube)
You wanna talk about fear? This view would likely be many people’s worst nightmare — being in a spacesuit, untethered, floating away from the International Space Station and its relative safety. NASA has astronauts covered for this Gravity-type scenario, however, with a sort of jet backpack that can send astronauts back to safety.
A new video featuring European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst (also embedded below) explains the steps an astronaut would take to swing back to safety. “We actually train how to use that in the virtual reality lab,” he said shortly after the video showed an astronaut floating away.
The key lies in a system called SAFER (Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue), which Gerst has practiced on numerous times (virtually) in preparation for his flight in May, which could involve spacewalks if NASA addresses a spacesuit water leak problem in time.
“You have to train it for a while to operate and actually come back, and not miss the station and fly into the blackness of space,” Gerst said.
An astronaut floating away from the International Space Station in virtual-reality training for emergencies. Credit: European Space Agency/YouTube (screenshot)
The Russian Orlan spacesuit (which Gerst is also trained on) does not have such a system, but Roscosmos gets around that by having a different procedure for spacewalking than the Americans. The Russians mandate a minimum of two attachment points to station at all times, whether it’s a pair of tethers or a tether and a gripped hand.
Gerst emphasizes a floating away scenario is unlikely, in either case — it would involve losing the anchor, losing the tether and also losing your grip all at the same time. While this has never actually happened, NASA did test the SAFER system in space on STS-64 in 1994 with a crew member standing by on the Canadarm robotic arm if something went wrong. In 2000, two astronauts aboard STS-92 each did a 50-foot flight with the system.
In 2006, the SAFER system got a little loose on the back of astronaut Piers Sellers, necessitating a tether fix. NASA emphasized that the system was not in danger of being lost.
You can view the section on SAFER in the video below at around 6 minutes. Gerst recorded this as a summary of his training ahead of Expedition 40/41, which lifts off in May.
