The game between the United States Air Force and amateur satellite trackers continues: the unmanned X-37B space plane – a classified project of the Air Force – has changed orbit once again, leaving those that monitor the flyovers of the space plane scrambling to locate it once again.
The X-37B was launched on April 22nd, 2010 on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and has been orbiting the Earth ever since. During the period between July 29th and August 14th of this year, the plane changed its orbit and forced the amateurs that monitor the satellite to find it again, and recalculate its orbital path. According to Spaceweather.com yesterday, the X-37B has once again changed its location. It did not pass over at the expected time on the nights of October 7th and October 9th.
Possibilities for this latest change in orbit include a simple maneuvering test or change in the current testing phase of the plane, or the potential that it is finally about to land. The gallium arsenide solar panels on the craft should allow it to stay in space for up to 270 days, but it has only been 173 days since the launch.
The X-37B is controlled remotely, and can automatically land. Once this flight is over, it will land at either the Vandenberg Air Force Base or the Edwards Air Force Base, both located in California.
Not much has been said about the the secret project by the Air Force. Started at NASA in 1999, the automated space plane was handed over to the Pentagon in 2004. This initial flight of the X-37B is billed as a test of the craft by the Air Force. Here’s its description according to the Air Force fact sheet:
“The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV, is a non-operational system that will demonstrate a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Air Force. The objectives of the OTV program include space experimentation, risk reduction and a concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.”
Of course, there has been much speculation about whether this constitutes the “weaponization of space”, since it is, after all, a project of the Air Force instead of NASA. To put your mind at ease, here’s a link to an analysis of potential uses of the X-37B by former Air Force officer Brian Wheeden, who is now a Technical Adviser to the Secure World Foundation. He places the likelihood that the space plane could be used as a weapon at zero, but its capabilities as an orbital spy platform are feasible.
If you want a comprehensive look into the history and the possible uses of the X-37B, there is a lengthy article over at Air & Space by associate editor Michael Klesius.
We’ll keep you posted as to when the X-37B is recovered by amateurs, if it has landed, or in the unlikely event that the Air Force decides to release any information about its current mission.
The ISS, from the shuttle mission in May 2010. Credit: NASA
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Last month the International Space Station partner agencies met to discuss the continuation of space station operations into the next decade and its use as a research laboratory. They also did a little forward thinking, and talked about some unique possibilities for the station’s future, including the potential for using the space station as a launching point to fly a manned mission around the Moon. I don’t know what our readers think, but my reactions is: this is just about the coolest idea I’ve heard in a long while! I’m having visions of a Star Trek-like space-dock, only on a smaller scale! In an article by the BBC’s Jonathan Amos, the partners said they want the ISS to become more than just a high-flying platform for doing experiments in microgravity, but also hope to see it become a testbed for the next-generation technologies and techniques needed to go beyond low-Earth orbit to explore destinations such as asteroids and Mars.
“We need the courage of starting a new era,” Europe’s director of human spaceflight, Simonetta Di Pippo, told the BBC News. For sending a mission to the Moon from the ISS, De Pippo said, “The idea is to ascend to the space station the various elements of the mission, and then try to assemble the spacecraft at the ISS, and go from the orbit of the space station to the Moon.”
One “next-generation” activity that is already planned is conducting a flight test of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) engine on the ISS, which is the new plasma–based space propulsion technology, that could get astronauts to destinations like Mars much quicker than conventional rockets. NASA has sign a commercial Space Act with the Ad Astra company (which is lead by former astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz).
But starting a Moon mission from the ISS is really a far-reaching, kind of “out-there” concept. It would be reminiscent of Apollo 8, and be the first of a new philosophy of using the station as a spaceport, or base-camp from where travelers start their journey. The propulsion system would be built at the station then launched from orbit, just like space travelers have dreamed for decades.
Of course, this is just an idea, and probably an expensive proposition, but isn’t it wonderful that the leaders of the space agencies are even thinking about it, much less talking about it?
Of course, doing zero-g experiments would always be the main focus of the ISS, but just think….
With this type of mission, the future of spaceflight actually be as Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield describes in the video below. “This is the great stepping off point of to the rest of the universe,” says Hadfield, who will be commanding an upcoming expedition on the ISS. “This is an important moment in the history of human exploration and human capability,… and the space station is a visible sign of the future to come.”
In the left of this image the payload canister sits attached to the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) waiting to have STS-133's payload removed. Photo Credit: Universe Today/Jason Rhian
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October 7 was a busy day in spaceflight, as a Soyuz launched 2 cosmonauts and 1 astronaut to the International Space Station, and for the last time the payload canister for the space shuttle Discovery made its way to Launch Complex 39A (LC39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Crews are now preparing to install the payload into Discovery’s cargo bay on Monday morning, which includes the first humanoid robot to fly into space Robonaut-2 or “R2.”
See below for a video of the Soyuz launch.
Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka and Scott Kelly are now on their way to join three other crew members aboard the ISS station after a two-day trip on the Soyuz.
For the final flight of Discovery, STS-133, the another payload is the reconfigured Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) now dubbed the Permanent Multipurpose Module. The mission will also carry the Express Logistics Carrier 4 and much-needed spare parts to the International Space Station (ISS).
The mission is slated to launch no-earlier-than Nov.1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT.
A large white canister is hoisted up and the payload that is sealed inside will be removed. From there the canister is taken away, the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) will swing over the space shuttle and then be loaded into the shuttle’s cargo bay. The entire process takes a little over a week.
STS-133 will mark the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery. Photo Credit: Universe Today/Alan Walters
The crew for STS-133 consists of Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Nicole Stott, Alvin Drew, Tim Kopra and Michael Barratt.
The crew of STS-133. from left to right, Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Eric Boe, Steve Lindsey, Micheal barratt and Tim Kopra. Image Credit: NASA
The canisters that deliver the payload out to the launch pad have been used since the shuttle program’s inception. However, that does not mean that they are destined to go to the Smithsonian or some other world-famous museum. In fact there is no real clear destination for any of these pieces of hardware. As NASA no longer has a clear path forward it is not known whether-or-not the canisters will be used in some future, as-yet-unnamed program.
“They’re pretty old critters, they’ve been with us since the beginning of the shuttle program,” said Scott Higginbotham NASA’s mission manager in charge of payloads. “They’ve delivered all the payloads either to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) for horizontal installation or out here to the pad for vertical installation.”
The payload canister is loaded onto the RSS in preparation for loading into Space Shuttle Discovery for STS-133. Image is an HDR composite from five images. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
The business end of the Falcon 9 is shown in this image. These nine Merlin engines are scheduled to power the Falcon 9 to orbit this November. Photo Credit: SpaceX
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Earlier this year, SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies) successfully launched the first of its Falcon 9 rockets. The firm has continued to move forward, prepping for the next demonstration flight. This mission will include the first flight of an operational Dragon spacecraft (the first payload was a spacecraft qualification unit), and will be the first demonstration launch under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)program. THe launch is currently scheduled to take place in the Nov. 8-9 timeframe.
Under the contract SpaceX is required to fly 3 demonstration flights and 12 operational missions to the International Space Station (ISS), to resupply the orbiting outpost.
The Dragon spacecraft shown here has significant payload capabilities and has both unmanned and manned versions planned. Photo Credit: SpaceX/Michael Rooks
Falcon 9’s second flight will liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and will closely match the first flight. However, on this mission the Dragon spacecraft will separate from the second stage of the rocket and test a number of crucial flight requirements. Some of these include, maneuvering, communications, navigation and reentry. The Dragon is designed to make touchdown on terra-firma but its initial landings will occur on water. These landings will be provided via its Draco thrusters – which may enable the craft to land within a few hundred yards of the desired target.
For its first demo flight, the Dragon will test out its systems as it conducts a number of orbits around the Earth. Afterward it will fire its thrusters and reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. The splashdown is planned to take place in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. The entire mission is not expected to last more than four hours.
In this image the Dragon spacecraft is mounted on a test stand in the hangar at Cape Canaveral. Photo Credit: SpaceX/Brian Attiyeh
While the Dragon spacecraft does not have the space shuttle’s payload capabilities – it is designed to return payloads weighing up to 6,600 lbs. The shuttle is the only other craft that has such a large cargo return capability. The Russian Progress M1 spacecraft has a similar payload capacity but it is not currently designed to return to Earth (the Progress burns up in the atmosphere). This would be a huge leap forward for returning payloads (and hopefully, eventually people) from the ISS.
Under NASA’s new direction, it is hoped that by investing in commercial crew transports that competition will be created and thus lower the cost for access to space.
SpaceX recently conducted a successful wet dress rehearsal (WDR) that included rolling the rocket out to the launch pad, located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 40. It was then loaded with fuel and went through a complete launch sequence – right up until launch. It was then de-fueled and “safed.” The procedures of the wet test included specific procedures required for the inclusion of an operational Dragon spacecraft.
The Falcon 9 demo-2 on the launch pad during the full wet dress rehearsal, which includes everything prior to engine ignition. Photo Credit: SpaceX
Before the WDR, SpaceX completed the first integration of its Falcon 9 and an operational Dragon spacecraft. The Dragon will be integrated onto the Falcon 9 rocket horizontally within the hangar. This helps to eliminate the cost of constructing and maintaining a vertical mobile service tower. It also makes processing of the payload less complicated. After integration is complete the Falcon 9 with the Dragon spacecraft will be moved to SpaceX’s mobile transporter/erector and be moved out of the hangar to the launch pad and then it will be erected vertically. The next step will be to conduct a static firing which is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.
The Dragon is designed to be similar to the Russian Soyuz/Progress spacecraft in that they can be used to launch both materials and astronauts into orbit. The spacecraft includes eighteen Draco engines, hypergolic fuel systems, avionics, power systems, software, guidance, navigation, the largest PICA-based heat shield yet to fly, and a dual-redundant deployment system for the spacecraft’s three recovery parachutes.
NASA astronauts Cady Coleman and Scott Kelly go over spacecraft cargo operations with some of SpaceX's engineers. Photo Credit: SpaceX
NASA astronauts have been trained in how to use the Dragon’s systems. Under both the COTS and Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) programs over a dozen astronauts from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have been taught how to use the spacecraft’s controls. There has been a mutual exchange of information, as the astronauts learned about the spacecraft’s operating systems, SpaceX employees have been given insights about what it takes to live and work in space. This knowledge will eventually make its way into procedures and flight hardware.
ARCA successfully launches the first Romanian space rocket, via balloon. Credit: ARCA
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A Romanian team aiming to send a rocket to the Moon via balloon successfully launched a test flight of their Helen 2 rocket, sending the first Romanian-made rocket system to 40,000 meters above the Earth. The Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA) team is vying for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and tested the balloon/rocket system (sometimes called a ‘rockoon’) which launched from a Romanian naval frigate from the Black Sea. While the balloon and rocket worked great, the parachute and recovery system failed. But the team met their main objectives and were ecstatic.
A Romanian naval officer celebrates with a member of the ARCA team after the rocket fired successfully. Credit: ARCA
ARCA has a simple, “green” design. For getting the Moon, a super-huge balloon will carry a system of three rockets to about 18 km (11 miles). Then the first two rocket stages will fire and boost the system into low Earth orbit, and use the final stage to boost it to the Moon. The lander, the European Lunar Explorer (ELE) resembles a knobby rubber ball that uses its own rocket engine to ensure a soft landing. They consider their system to be green, as the rocket engine operates exclusively with hydrogen peroxide
The Helen rocket is lifted into the air by the balloon. Credit: ARCA
The balloon ascent took 40 minutes, bringing the system to an altitude of 14,000 m, at times raising the system at 120 km/h. When it reached that altitude, the flight controllers on the naval ship lit the rocket engines for 30 seconds, bringing it to 40,000 meters. From flight data transmitted to the control centers of ARCA and the Romanian civil aviation authority (ROMATSA) the team was able to confirm the successful flight trajectory, which had an error of only 800 m from the center of their safe trajectory.
A payload on board the capsule took pictures from the top of the trajectory.
An image sent down from the capsule from about 40,000 meters. Credit: ARCA
But at the capsule’s reentry, the parachute did not open, and a ship sent to try and find the capsule in the water was not able to find and retrieve it. But the ARCA team said they didn’t look for it for very long, since most data were transmitted by radio telemetry and satellite and recovery isn’t an objective of the Google Lunar X Prize Competition.
However, they were able to complete the successful launch of the first Romanian space rocket, as well as their first flight of the Google Lunar X Prize Competition. They also verified their rocket stabilization system, and reached the highest altitude ever by an object designed and built entirely in Romania.
Atlantis returns to Kennedy Space Center for what should have been the orbiter's final mission - STS-132. Photo Credit: Universe Today/Alan Walters
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For some time now there have been rumors and speculation that there will be an additional flight added to the two currently remaining on the shuttle manifest. With the passage of the Senate 2010 NASA Authorization Act (S. 3729) the mission which would be STS-135 – is now all but a certainty. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Senate bill on a 304 to118 vote. The final hurdle will be the president signing the act into law. From all accounts however, as this bill largely supports the president’s agenda, this should not be a problem and STS-135 should launch during the summer of next year.
The orbiter that will likely fly this mission will be Atlantis, the workhorse of the shuttle fleet. For all intents-and-purposes STS-132, which flew this past May, was the last scheduled mission for Atlantis. However, mission managers were looking at either Discovery or Atlantis to fly the possible STS-135 mission. With Atlantis back at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) since May, the orbiter has had more processing time and it would be easier to prepare for launch.
The crew for this mission has already been selected. The crew will be comprised of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. All of these astronauts are space shuttle veterans. Currently they are training under the STS-335 designation which is a “Launch-On-Need” (LON) mission. In the event of an emergency on STS-134, Atlantis would launch to rescue the crew members. There have been LON missions for each post-Columbia flight.
“Having an additional shuttle flight will keep the national treasure we have in the space station very well situated in consumables and supplies, said Lori Garver, NASA’s Deputy Administrator, during a media briefing on Thursday. “I don’t see it as either a luxury or necessity, it us just making good use of a resource and doing it in a safe manner.”
If all goes well on the STS-134 mission, STS-335 will be converted to STS-135 and its mission will change from rescue – to resupply. If this does take place, the payload for this mission will be the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC).
STS-135 will be a resupply mission used to keep the International Space Station as well-stocked as possible when the shuttle program ends. Photo Credit: NASA
Outside of the fact that it will be the last mission of the shuttle program, the mission also bears one other distinction. With a crew of four, this is the smallest contingent of astronauts to launch on a space shuttle since STS-6 back in April of 1983.
The rationale behind such a small crew is two-fold. A smaller crew will allow NASA to maximize the amount of payload that is sent to the International Space Station (ISS). The weight of two or three extra astronauts will now go to additional supplies that can be flown to the ISS. In the event that STS-135 itself runs into trouble while on-orbit, the smaller crew would also allow for a rescue by the Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft.
The ISS will more than likely be on-orbit until 2020 and possibly beyond. As such it was viewed as essential that as much supplies as possible were ferried to and stored on the orbiting outpost. The Rafaello MPLM will be maxed out with 16 resupply racks, the most the cargo container can handle, for this mission. The LMC will carry a new coolant pump. The External Thermal Cooling System (ECTS) Pump Module (PM) which dramatically failed recently and was swapped out by spacewalkers Tracy Caldwell-Dyson and Doug Wheelock last month.
One of NASA's recovery ships, Freedom Star, escorts the Pegasus Barge with the final External Tank of the shuttle program into Cape Canaveral. Photo Credit: Universe Today/Alan Walters
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As the space shuttle program draws to a close, NASA is working to highlight the historic nature of each of the events. On Tuesday, Sept. 28th, the last External Tank of the shuttle program wheeled out of the Pegasus Barge – early. Storm clouds had been swirling around the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in the early morning hours, pushing the rollout time up.
Weather also conspired to delay the departure of the final Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) segment from the Assembly Refurbishment Facility (ARF). After a brief ceremony that included Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana and Astronauts Chris Hadfield and Gregory C. Johnson it was announced that the final SRB segment would wait in the ARF for a couple more days until the weather system passed. The moment seemed to highlight some of the emotions that those that have worked on the SRBs are currently feeling.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and U.S. astronaut Greg johnson spoke at Tuesday's ceremonies. Photo Credit: Universe Today/Alan Walters
“It’s bittersweet; you know I’ve worked with the people here for the last twenty-years,” said David Beaman the manager for the Reusable Solid Rocket Booster Project, Shuttle Office. “It’s exciting to know that we’ve almost completed the mission, to know that we’re getting ready for the last couple shuttle flights.”
The External Tank traveled from NASA’s Michoud Facility located in Louisiana to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center across the Gulf of Mexico. The trip takes about 5 days and some 900 miles. The Pegasus reached the turn basin near the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) the day prior. The day was viewed as one of reflection for those that have worked to see that the tanks arrive safely at KSC.
Workers assemble in front of the final Solid Rocket Booster segment of the shuttle program. Photo Credit: Universe Today/Alan Walters
“It’s a sentimental day, almost nostalgic, who knows what the future brings, but at least for the shuttle program this is the last,” said KSC’s External Tank and Solid Rocket Booster Manager, Alicia Mendoza. “We are excited to have the tank, we all had our adrenaline flowing, but at the same time it is sad because it is the last tank.”
While a final determination as to whether or not there will be a third mission added to the two currently scheduled, all signs indicated that this mission will be added. Currently this mission is designated STS-335 and would be a “Launch On Need” (LON) rescue mission for the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Endeavour, STS-134. If and when this mission is given the go-ahead the crew would consist of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Sandra Magnus. The crew would convert from training as a rescue mission to a resupply mission for the space station.
The last External Tank of the shuttle program, ET-122, rests safely in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Photo Credit: Universe Today/Alan Walters
It was Robert Cabana, Kennedy Space Center’s Director that highlighted the importance of the work that was done on both the SRBs and ETs over the past three decades.
Speaking next to the final SRB segment of the shuttle era, Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana highlights the program's 30 years of accomplishments. Photo Credit: Jason Rhian
“I just want to say thank you for your hard work and dedication, thank you for thirty years supporting space shuttle operations,” said Cabana, a four-time shuttle astronaut, speaking at Tuesday’s ceremonies. “Thank you for supporting an amazing vehicle that made the assembly of the space station that’s on orbit possible, that put the Hubble Space Telescope up there; that put all the probes out there in space that has done all the things that would not have been possible without the space shuttle.”
Jim Lovell with artist Marla Friedman who painted Lovell's portrait for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Image: Nancy Atkinson
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Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell was awarded the Lincoln Leadership Prize by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum foundation last week, and while humbled to receive the award, Lovell said he really is just an ordinary person. “I was just at the right place at the right time with the right credentials; there was nothing so extra special about me that got me where I am.”
But those in attendance at a reception to unveil a portrait of Lovell which will hang at the presidential library in Springfield, Illinois said Lovell embodies the intersection of heroism and legacy.
Lovell speaking at a reception in his honor at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Image: Nancy Atkinson
“NASA had a leader at the exact moment they needed it,” said Richard K. Davis, Chair, President and CEO of US Bancorp, who introduced the former Apollo astronaut at the reception. “With the help of many, Lovell and his crew created the outrageous but amazing solution to plot Apollo 13 back home. NASA found they had a cool, calm, competent leader, a hero who took this crew and a nation from ‘Houston we have a problem’ to America, we have a miracle.
Davis said one of his all-time favorite quotes comes from Lovell: “There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful you need to be a person who makes things happen.”
Earlier in the week, Lovell talked with members of the media about his life and his thoughts on NASA’s current budget situation. You can read part one of the interview here, and following is the continuation of the conversation with Jim Lovell, where he talks about some of his memories of his flights to space, and what it took for him to realize that Apollo 13 was more than just a failure:
We’re coming up to almost the 40th anniversary of the last person who landed on the Moon—what are your thoughts about that?
Lovell: It is a rather sad remembrance. I think it is an end of an era. I think the anniversaries will end—we probably won’t get together much anymore. We should look ahead to have a space program that everyone can be proud of, regardless of what it ends up to be. Sometimes we live too much in the past. But the future is here.
Why did you decide to become an astronaut?
Lovell: When I was in high school I was interested in both astronomy and rockets. There was a fellow I admired, the father of modern rocketry named Robert Goddard. I really wanted to be a rocket engineer. So I wrote to the secretary of the American Rocket Society, and asked how I could become one. He told me there was no school at that time that offered that type of study specifically, but I should take mechanics and mathematics, thermodynamics and either go to MIT or CalTech.
But my father had died earlier that year and I didn’t have the money to go to either of those places, so I gave that up. But I did apply to get an ROTC scholarship and was accepted. I went to the University of Wisconsin for two years and won an appointment to the Naval Academy. I went there for four years and got into the Navy and became a naval aviator – which was a second goal for me, as my uncle had been a naval aviator and had regaled me with all his stories. Then I went to test pilot school for the Navy. And when NASA was asking for astronauts, it seemed to me to be the perfect opportunity: here was a marrying of flight and rockets all coming together for me as if I had planned it all this time.
You couldn’t have seen a more disappointed person when I wasn’t selected for the first original seven astronauts. I made it to the final 32 candidates. But then, for round two, I was selected.
Universe Today: What are your favorite memories from your four flights to space?
Lovell: Apollo 8 was the most inspirational flight to me, and I hope it brought a message back to the Earth of what we have.
The most impressive sight I saw was not the moon, not the far side that we never see, or the craters. It was Earth. The Earth was the most impressive sight. As we came around the far side of the Moon and saw the Earth come up above the horizon, we could see the only color in our part of the Universe. The blues of the oceans, the white clouds, the tans, the pinks. I could put my thumb up and hide the Earth completely. Then it dawned on me how completely insignificant we are. Everything I had ever known – my family, my country, my world – was behind my thumb.
So there in the distance was this small body orbiting a rather normal sun, — nothing so particular about it — tucked away on the outer edge of the galaxy we call the Milky Way.
I thought how fortunate we are to live on this small body, with everyone – all those ‘astronauts’ — living together like on a starship, with limited resources. So, in a way that was just like Apollo 13, and we have to learn to live and work together. And I hope we could bring that message back to the people of Earth.
But I also have to say one of my other favorite memories was from Apollo 13: the splashdown! Seeing the parachutes, feeling the capsule swaying in the ocean, and having one of the divers come to knock on the window was a great feeling. It was pretty impressive, too.
Jim Lovell speaking at the museum, in front of a replica of the White House. Image: Nancy Atkinson
What was scarier, the explosion of Apollo 13 or seeing the service module after it was jettisoned and wondering if the heat shield was still intact?
Lovell: The low point was the explosion – which we didn’t realize was an explosion until I saw the oxygen leaking outside the spacecraft, and saw from our instruments that we would be completely out of oxygen. This also meant we would be out of electrical power, and because we used the electrical power to control the rocket engine, we also lost the propulsion system. We knew we were losing the command module, but that was the only thing that had the heat shield to get us back to Earth.
As we were going through and solving all the problems one by one, when we came back towards Earth and jettisoned the Service Module and saw the explosion had blown out the entire side panel, we wondered about that heat shield which was right behind us, if the explosion had cracked it. But there was nothing we could do at that point. There was no solution. You just crossed your fingers. Once we entered the atmosphere we just had to hope the heat shield was intact. And it was.
Lovell and museum officials at the unveiling of a portrait of Lovell that will hang in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Image: Nancy Atkinson
You went from the space program to the tugboat business. What was that like?
After I retired from NASA and the Navy, and I was looking for something to do. I went to the advanced management program at Harvard and learned enough about business to be dangerous. Some friends of ours had a tugboat company and he offered me a job leading the company. Since I was a Navy officer — which has something to do with ships and water – I thought I could handle that. I was in that about five years. Then I got into the telecommunications business, which was fortunate timing because the deregulation of AT&T was just around the corner. We sold digital systems, where AT&T had analog systems, and we could sell the systems instead of how it was done the past where customers leased equipment from the phone company.
As you sit in this museum and library, what are your thoughts about studying the past?
This library and museum is not just something to look back on the era of Lincoln, it is an education for all ages coming through here of how we can keep the country together in the future. At the various museums around the country, like at the Air and Space museum, we show what people have done in the past in spaceflight. Here, and there, we show how people are committed to do things. Lincoln was committed to preserve the country. This type of an institution gives young people the chance to learn about those who were committed to make our country strong, and it should give everyone hope about our future.
You didn’t write the book “Lost Moon” for over 20 years after the Apollo 13 mission. What took so long?
Lovell: When we first got back from Apollo 13, the three of us astronauts said, this was a pretty unusual flight, so we should write a book about this. So, we said, we’re going to get together and write something. Well, as it often happens, as time went on, we all had jobs to do and life got busy for all of us. Jack Swigert went into politics in Colorado, and then, of course, he passed away. Fred Haise went into the aerospace business with Grumman, and I went into the telephone business. But just after I retired I got a call from a young man (Jeffrey Kluger) who said he had never written a book before, but he was a science writer for the Discover Magazine.
To make a long story short, I liked the way he wrote and we got together and wrote the book about 22 years after Apollo 13. But you have to remember that Apollo 13 was a failure. I mean, the only experiment that was completed was really done by the mission control team when they maneuvered the third stage of our booster to hit the Moon so that the Apollo 12 seismometers could pick up the results of the hit to learn something about the lunar surface. So there were no other successful experiments. The only thing we were doing was trying to figure out how to get home.
So, for years after we got back, I was frustrated. I wanted to land on the Moon like the other crews had, but I didn’t. But as we started to write the book, I realized that in its initial mission, yes, the flight was a failure. But as we wrote and I found out more about how hard the mission control team worked to get us back, I realized it really was a triumph in the way people handled a crisis: good leadership at all levels at NASA, teamwork that was generated because of that leadership, the use of imagination and initiative to figure out how to get us home by using just what we had on board, the perseverance of people who kept on going when it looked like initially that we didn’t have a chance. Jules Bergman (ABC science reporter) only gave us a 10 per cent chance, and my wife never forgave him for that!
But this is why Apollo 13 went from being a failure to a triumph.
The movie is very accurate, by the way. Ron Howard followed the real story very well. All the incidents were true except for the argument between Haise and Swigert, but Ron Howard had to figure out a way to portray the tension we all felt, and decided to do it in that way.
Previous winners of the Lincoln Leadership Prize are archbishop Desmond Tutu and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. For more information about the Lincoln Prize and the Presidential Museum and Library, see the ALPLM website.
The Orion spacecraft is depicted here circling Earth's nearest celestial neighbor, the moon. Image Credit: NASA
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Lockheed Martin has been working overtime to get the Orion spacecraft ready for its first mission, which officials say could be as early as 2013, depending on Congress’ final decision for NASA’s future and budget. Tools and procedures are being checked out to see that they work as advertised for both the spacecraft as well as assembly procedures and manufacturing for building future capsules.
The Orion spacecraft will be assembled and integrated on site in the Operations & Checkout (O & C) building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. By doing this, both time and money can be saved as it will cut down on transportation costs and logistical issues.
“The unique benefit of this complete on-site operation is that we will build the spacecraft and then move it directly onto the launch vehicle at KSC, which saves the government transportation costs associated with tests and checkout prior to launch,” said Lockheed Martin Orion Deputy Program Manager for production operations Richard Harris. “This capability also facilitates the KSC workforce transition efforts by providing new job opportunities for those employees completing their shuttle program assignments.”
The current plan calls for Orion to serve to transport astronauts to the International Space Station and perhaps an eventual mission beyond low-Earth-orbit (LEO), but Orion’s future rests with Congress’ upcoming decision on NASA’s future budget. The House Science and Technology Committee announced Thursday a compromise between the House and Senate versions of NASA’s budget, but it is unclear when a final vote may take place.
In the meantime, the O & C building has been transformed in the past couple years into what is being called “the space factory of the future.” This was accomplished by the combined effort of both Lockheed Martin as well as Space Florida, the state’s aerospace development organization. The work was done to create a state-of-the-art facility for spacecraft production and innovation.
NASA's Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building has recently been refurbished to accomocate the Orion spacecraft. Photo Credit: NASA
Changes made to the O&C include 90,000 square feet of air-bearing floor space, paperless work stations, a portable clean room system, and specialized lifting/lowering/ support tools designed by United Space Alliance (USA). Specially designed air-bearing pallets will allow a small crew to maneuver hardware across the floor. The building renovation also incorporates energy-saving electrical systems which will help to further lower costs.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Orion Project and heads the team that includes numerous subcontractors and small businesses working at facilities in 28 states. Additionally, the program works with more than 500 small businesses across the U.S. to provide the needed supplies that make the Orion Project a reality.
A previous Soyuz spacecraft leaving the ISS. Credit: NASA
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Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut were forced to call off their scheduled departure from the International Space Station because of a failure of the undocking system. Hooks on the space station’s Poisk module docking interface failed to release for the scheduled departure at 9:35 p.m. EDT Thursday, sending astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson and Russia’s Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko back inside the ISS from the Soyuz, where they were strapped in, ready to return to Earth. NASA and the Russian Space Agency are hoping to try again, with the hatch closing at 6:45 pm EDT on Friday; undocking at 10:02 pm and landing in Kazakhstan at 1:22 am.
“The preliminary analysis, according to the technical commission, showed that a false signal appeared in the onboard computer system about the lack of a hermetic junction after closing the hatch on the station,” said Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov.
This type of undocking problem has never happened before and comes three months after a Russian Progress resupply vehicle had problems docking to the ISS when a transmitter for the manual rendezvous system accidently activated, overriding the usually reliable automated system.
In trouble shooting the problem, Expedition 25 flight engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin on board the station removed a cover from the docking mechanism and found a small gear floating away. But the station crew couldn’t confirm the object came from the docking system or had anything to do with the failure.
