Space Flight Archives

April 2, 2010April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Skydiver Hopes to Break the Speed of Sound in Freefall

Felix Baumgartner during a test flight. Credit: Red Bull Stratos

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The speed of sound — historically called the ‘sound barrier’ – has been broken by rockets, various jet-powered aircraft and rocket-boosted land vehicles. Felix Baumgartner wants to break the sound barrier with his body, in freefall from the edge of space. He will travel inside a capsule with a stratospheric balloon to 36,500 meters (120,000 feet) step out and attempt a freefall jump targeted to reach – for the first time in history – supersonic speeds.

“After years of training with my team of dedicated Red Bull Stratos experts, I’ll be going on a journey that no one has ever done,” Baumgartner told Universe Today in an email message. “If I succeed, I will be the first person to break the sound barrier, alone. That will be a record for all eternity. As such, a piece of me will become immortal. That excites me.”

Baumgartner, left with Joe Kittinger. Credit: Red Bull Stratos

Back in 1960, a US Air Force captain named Joe Kittinger made aerospace history by making a jump from 31,000 meters (102,800 feet). His jump contributed valuable data that provided ground work for spacesuit technology and knowledge about human physiology for the US space program. There have been several attempts to surpass Kittinger’s record, but none have succeeded, and people have given their lives for the quest.

Sometime during 2010, Baumgartner will make an attempt in his “Red Bull Stratos” mission — named after the energy drink company that co-created the program with the Austrian skydiver. Red Bull Stratos team members say the mission will explore the limits of the human body in one of the most hostile environments known to humankind, in the attempt to deliver valuable lessons in human endurance and high-altitude technology.

“This is the biggest goal I can dream of,” Baumgartner said. “If we can prove that you can break the speed of sound and stay alive I think that is a benefit for future space exploration.”

If Baumgartner is successful, the Red Bull Stratos mission will break four world records: the altitude record for freefall, the distance record for longest freefall, the speed record for fastest freefall by breaking the speed of sound with the human body, and the altitude record for the highest manned balloon flight.

Baumgartner during a test flight. Credit: Red Bull Stratos

How fast will Baumgarter need to go to beat the speed of sound? Sound travels at different speeds through the atmosphere (as well as through different mediums), depending on atmospheric density and temperature. For example, at sea level, in average conditions of about 15 degrees C (59 degrees F), sound travels at around 1,223 kph (760 mph). But at higher altitudes, where the air is colder, sound travels more slowly.

Researchers with the Red Bull Stratos mission anticipate Baumgartner could break the sound barrier at about 30,480 meters (100,000 feet) above sea level, in temperatures of -23 to -40 C (-10 to -40 F) where sound travels at about 1,110 kph (690 mph) or roughly 304 meters per second (1,000 feet per second).

So, he’ll have to go faster than those speeds – or Mach 1 — to be supersonic.

While there is no literal “barrier,”the transition to supersonic speeds can cause problems for aircraft as transonic air movement creates disruptive shock waves and turbulence. Data obtained from Chuck Yeager’s first supersonic flight in 1947 allowed for changes in design of supersonic aircraft to avoid problems. Still, some aircraft still experience problems, and going supersonic has been attributed to some air disasters.

And the human body isn’t designed for supersonic speeds.

“Our biggest concern is that we don’t know how a human unencumbered by aircraft is going to transition through this,” said the project’s Medical Director Dr. Jonathan Clark, a flight surgeon for six space shuttle missions (and husband of astronaut Laurel Clark who died in the Columbia disaster in 2003), who has researched numerous aerospace disasters. “But it’s also exactly what we’re hoping to learn, for the benefit of future space flights.”

Documents provided by the Red Bull Stratos mission say that the data obtained from the mission will be shared with the scientific community, and Clark notes that he expects long-awaited medical protocols to be established as a result.

At the low temperatures and tenuous atmospheric conditions that Baumgartner will experience, he could suffer from hypothermia, the bends –if he gains altitude too fast during ascent –, or he could experience ebullism – the infamous condition where gas bubbles can form in the blood, and the blood basically “boils.”

Baumgartner wearing the David Clark Company suit. Credit: Red Bull Stratos. — Baumgartner wearing the David Clark Company suit. Credit: Red Bull Statos

That’s why his spacesuit is so important.

“I have absolute confidence the suit is going to work,” said Daniel McCarter, Program Manager for the David Clark Company, the same company that made Kittinger’s suit back in 1960, as well as full pressure suits for NASA astronauts and military pilots flying in aircraft that can reach the edge of the atmosphere. “Every time someone jumps a suit system like this there is something to learn. We learn knowledge for future systems.”

Art Thompson, the mission’s Technical Project Director, added, “We are ultimately risking life. Felix realizes that his life is on the line. Our job is to do everything we can from an engineering and technical point of view to keep him safe.”

The suit Baumgartner will use is custom-made for him, so there should be no pressure points caused by the suit that would make him uncomfortable, but any pressure suit restricts mobility and dexterity. He will have to avoid movements that could cause him to go into an uncontrollable spin.

Baumgartner is not new to jumping. He owns several world records for B.A.S.E. jumping and is well known for skydiving across the English Channel in 2003. He is also a parachutist, stunt coordinator and a commercial helicopter pilot.

“I think I’ve always been one of those guys who wanted to be in the places where no one has been before. It’s inside your body or brain,” Baumgartner said in a video on the Red Bull Stratos website. “When I was a kid, I liked to climb up trees –I always wanted to be on top of something.”

This will definitely be an attempt to go where no one has gone before.

For more information on the mission, visit the Red Bull Stratos website, or Felix Baumgartner’s website.

April 2, 2010December 24, 2015 by Ken Kremer

Soyuz Blasts off with Russian American Crew for Easter ISS arrival

Expedition 23 crew members Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

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The Russian built Soyuz space TMA-18 capsule blasted off today (Good Friday, April 2) at 12:04 AM EDT (8:04 AM Moscow time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with a Russian American crew for a 2 day trip through space that will carry them to the International Space Station (ISS) for a docking on Easter Sunday.

On board the capsule are an American female NASA astronaut on her 2nd trip to space, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and two male Russian rookies, cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko.

soyuz TMA 18 launch with russian american crew on April 2, 2010 bound for the ISS

Upon arrival at the ISS, this new space crew will restore the ISS to its full complement of six residents to complete the on orbit staffing of ISS Expedition 23. There is currently only a crew of three space flyers on board comprising Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA’s T.J. Creamer, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They arrived aboard their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft on Dec 22 as Santas helpers bearing Christmas gifts.

The five man crew was reduced to three following the recent departure of Jeff Williams (NASA) and flight engineer Max Suraev (Russia) on March 17 who returned safely to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA 16 capsule.

Expedition 23 launches aboard the Soyuz TMA-18. Credit: NASA TV

Less than 10 minutes after launch, the Soyuz reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays were deployed. The crew arrives at the ISS on Easter Sunday April 4, orbiting some 200 miles above Earth. They will dock at the Poisk module.

It was from this historic launch pad that Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted into space in 1961 on mankind’s first manned space flight. The Soyuz crew capsule has been in use by Russia since 1967.

March 30, 2010April 13, 2022 by Ken Kremer

3 Welds to Go for 1st Orion Pathfinder Vehicle

Orion Crew Module Forward Cone Assembly of the Ground Test Article being transported at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La. in the same factory that developed Apollo's Saturn launch vehicles and the external tank for the space shuttle fleet. The 5 meter diameter cone weighs about 650 lbs. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Orion crew module. Credit: NASA

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Just three crucial welds remain to complete the structural assembly of the very first pathfinder Orion manned capsule – the Crew Module – known as the Ground Test Article (GTA) at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

The GTA is the first full-sized, flight-like test article for Orion. The Orion test capsule is being built by Lockheed Martin at Michoud as you read these words, even as President Obama seeks to completely terminate Project Constellation and Orion in his new NASA Budget proposal for 2011.

Yes, America’s Orion Crew Module program really is that close to achieving this key assembly milestone on the road to a US human spaceflight replacement and successor to the soon to be retired Space Shuttle. That fact is quite evident in the new NASA photos I obtained especially for this story. The GTA functions as a production pathfinder to validate production processes and tools for the actual human rated flight vehicle to follow.

Lockheed expects to complete the close out advanced technology welds for the GTA by May 2010 according to senior Lockheed officials I contacted. Structural proof testing of the Orion GTA vehicle will commence shortly thereafter.

Beyond that, John Karas, the Lockheed VP for Human Spaceflight told me in an interview that “Orion can be ready for crewed flights to low Earth orbit as early as 2013”.

Meanwhile, in the face of a rising chorus of harsh bipartisan Congressional criticism of the cancellation of Project Constellation and America’s Orion Crew Vehicle, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden continues to insist at multiple venues that, “There is no Plan B for Space Exploration. I strongly support the priorities and the direction for NASA that the President has put forward. I did not ask anybody for an alternative to the President’s plan and budget”.

The headline photo and others below illustrate the advanced status of the three major segments. The upper and lower module segments are to be robotically welded together by May 2010 using friction stir welding to create the structural framework of the first Orion pathfinder.

Orion Crew Module Aft Assembly in the 5505 weld fixture. The 5 meter diameter Aft Assembly weighs 1,885 lbs. Credit: NASA

At the moment, Lockheed is pressing forward with the Orion capsule utilizing the Congressionally approved NASA funding still available in the current fiscal budget as well as hundreds of millions more dollars committed by Lockheed and its partners, Karas said to me. “Over 4000 people are working on the Orion Project. Those jobs are at risk.”

Soon, the Orion and Constellation contractors will face tough decisions on whether to continue with testing and development of new science and technology breakthroughs … or begin massive personnel layoffs and abandon the wide ranging work in progress in order to preserve the remaining funds for shutdown activities.

“All work on Orion is proceeding according to the current contract schedule,” said Lockheed spokesman Kevin Barre.

The three major components of the Orion Crew Module GTA to be mated together are comprised of the Forward Cone Assembly, the Aft Assembly and the Crew Module Forward Bay Assembly and Tunnel. “These structural elements comprising the Orion GTA have undergone the meticulous application of strain gauges in preparation for loads and development testing”, says Barre. Hundreds of gauges have been placed in various positions to measure the overall vehicle strain during GTA testing.

“Inside the GTA is a backbone which resembles a stringer on a boat. That backbone will be installed in April before initial testing of the GTA begins at Michoud in May,” Barre amplified.

Orion Crew Module Tunnel and Forward Bulkhead comprise the Forward Assembly, minus the outer thermal protection system. The tunnel is to be mated to the top of the Cone Assembly. Astronauts will enter the Space Station through the tunnel after docking. The Forward Assembly and Tunnel weighs 370 lbs. Credit: NASA

After the testing for structural integrity, the crew module will be outfitted with the thermal protection systems and internal components necessary for subsequent static vibration, acoustics and water landing loads testing in flight-like environments. Environmental support components – similar in mass and volume to the flight articles – will also be installed. These internal components are being built both at Michoud and at other contractor work sites around the country. The testing results will be used to correlate sizing models for all subsystems on the vehicle and finalize the design.

Lockheed achieved another key technology milestone when the fabrication of the Orion composite heat shield was completed in February 2010. The 5 meter (16.4 ft) diameter Orion heat shield is the world’s largest heat shield structure ever built, and larger in size than the Mars Science Lab (MSL) and Apollo heat shields. It will be attached to the GTA in June 2010 upon completion of acceptance testing.

The cutting edge heat shield is critical to the protection of the spacecraft and crew from the extreme temperatures experienced during re-entry. See photo below of the heat shield – which seems to hover like a flying saucer – after its removal from the mold where it was fabricated in Denver.

The Orion composite heat shield structure appears to hover above its layup mold during removal. It is the world’s largest heat shield ever built and is 5 meters in diameter. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Final testing of the Orion Ground Test Article at Michoud is set to begin in the September 2010 timeframe.

Work has not yet begun on the service module which supports the GTA with life support supplies.

Orion is a frustum shaped vehicle, dubbed “Apollo on Steroids” by the previous NASA Administrator Mike Griffin due to its obvious similarity to the Apollo Command Module. At a diameter of 5 meters and measuring 3.3 meters tall, Orion would have 2.5 times the interior volume of Apollo.

Of course the continuation of all this high technology work and the fate of thousands of US jobs associated with it, is threatened by President Obama’s decision to cancel Orion at this advanced stage of development after $9 Billion has already been spent by NASA and the taxpayers on Project Constellation since 2004. At least another $2.5 Billion will be required just to shut down the program. It’s quite possible that even more money will be required as contractors assess their full shutdown costs.

The Constellation program comprises the Orion Crew Vehicle and the Ares 1 and Ares 5 booster rockets designed to return humans to the Moon, Mars and Beyond for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

Obama’s budget calls instead for starting over with the development of a new human spaceflight capsule by relying on commercial providers to develop ‘space taxis’ to ferry US astronauts into low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. After the Space Shuttle is retired following its final flight later this year, the US will have no domestic manned vehicles to propel people into space and will instead have to purchase astronauts seats on board the Russian Soyuz capsule for some $50 million apiece until a commercial US ‘space taxi’ is ready for launch.

SpaceX Activates Station Communications System for Future Dragon Dockings

Illustration of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft arriving at the International Space Station. ISS astronauts will command Dragon via the SpaceX-developed communications hardware recently installed aboard the ISS. Credit: NASA

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SpaceX announced today that a combined team of NASA and SpaceX personal had activated communications hardware aboard the International Space Station that will be crucial for enabling the docking of the Dragon unmanned cargo resupply vehicle being developed by SpaceX.

Start up of the new Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Communication Unit will allow ISS crewmembers to monitor and command approaching or departing Dragon spacecraft during cargo delivery missions to the massive 800,000 pound orbiting laboratory.

The communications hardware was delivered to the ISS aboard the STS 129 mission which blasted off in November 2009. The on-orbit checkout began in January 2010, when astronaut Jeff Williams, ISS Expedition 22 Commander, worked with ground-based team members at SpaceX headquarters and ISS mission control in Houston to power-up and check out the new system.

Astronaut Jeff Williams, Expedition 22 Commander, aboard the International Space Station with the SpaceX-developed controller for the Dragon spacecraft communications system. Credit: NASA

An additional series of tests was performed in March by SpaceX and NASA Houston using the new system to send communications between the ISS and the NASA Dryden ground station. This provided a baseline of the radio frequency performance and confirmed the first set of antennas performed as expected and is ready for mission operations.

The tests employed live video and telemetry links from the ISS to verify the hardware’s functionality, broadcast and reception signal strengths, and the system’s stability over long-duration operations.

SpaceX won a $1.6 Billion commercial contract from NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program to conduct a minimum of 12 cargo flights aimed at delivering at least 20,000 kg of cargo to the ISS using the Dragon spacecraft. The first commercial resupply flights are set to start in 2011 after a series of three test flights start around May 2010.

Astronaut Jeff Williams, Expedition 22 Commander (top) aboard the International Space Station, and engineers at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, perform activation and testing of SpaceX's new communications system for operations with upcoming Dragon spacecraft resupply missions to the ISS. Credit: Roger Gilbertson / SpaceX

Dragon is slated to launch atop the SpaceX developed Falcon 9 rocket. Read my earlier story about the successful rocket engine test firing for the inaugural Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA is counting on the Dragon spacecraft to fill the giant cargo resupply void that will be created once the Space Shuttle program is retired later this year. Without a constant and reliable resupply train of food, spare parts and science equipment the ISS cannot fulfill its role as a world class science research facility. The massive orbiting outpost is nearing completion of its assembly phase and is rapidly transitioning to the science research phase for which it was constructed.

How Long Can the ISS Really Last?

ISS as seen by the departing Endeavour crew on STS-130. Credit: NASA

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How long can the International Space Station really operate – until 2020, or 2028 or beyond? I recently had the chance to talk with Mark Uhran, NASA’s Assistant Associate Administrator of the ISS. We were both attending a conference on water sustainability at Kennedy Space Center, but Uhran took the time to talk with me about the state of our space station, NASA’s new budget and how that might affect ISS operations, and — speaking of water — how is the urine recycling system working these days?

You can also hear an audio version of this interview on the March 28 edition of 365 Days of Astronomy.

Universe Today: How are things going as far the extension of the ISS? I heard there was recently a meeting with the international partners where they said it could be extended to 2028 if need be.

Mark Uhran: We’ve made the decision in the United States as part of the President’s budget proposal to Congress, so we’re over the hump here in the US. And then we began a series of meetings with the partners starting in Japan last week. Of course each of the partners has been working with us for the past 12-18 months, but they are fully prepared to approach their governments and ask for an extension. There are no technical obstacles to extending to at least 2020, and we’re also going to be doing an evaluation to what the ultimate lifetime of the ISS might be. That evaluation is in process. So we’re looking at whether we can go as long as 2028, but that remains to be seen.

Universe Today: Since we’re here talking about water, how are things going with the recycling system up there on the station. I know there have been some glitches here and there.

Uhran: The station has been a real testbed for developing regenerative water and air technologies. We knew at the time deploying these systems they would be in a testbed mode, and it would probably take about a year to shakedown all the systems and we are making steady progress towards doing just that. All the systems are working today – that’s not to say they will be working tomorrow. We certainly do expect them to go up and down throughout the course of the year as we fine tune them and work out the details. By the end of this year we hope to add a Sabatier (carbon dioxide reduction system) reactor that will allow us produce yet further water on orbit.

NASA"s Water Recovery System for the ISS. Credit: NASA

Hauling water is a very expensive proposition for us. Once the Sabatier is up there later this year, we’ll have basically the entire designed system deployed and I’m confident by this time next year we’ll have worked out all the filtration issues, the film formation issues, and precipitant issues and we’ll have this tuned so that it is basically available 90% of the time, which is an outstanding availability rate. So, this has been very worthwhile from our point of view not just because of the cost of hauling water to the space station but for the implications for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

Universe Today: The new NASA budget, which eliminates Constellation, how do you see that affecting space station operations?

Uhran: Well, space station is relatively small factor in that new budget. We’ve been extended, which is a major achievement from our point of view. But in terms of financial constraints, we are pretty well prepared now to go ahead and operate until the end of the decade, as well as to ramp up our research program on the station. With the assembly process being completed, the crew time now becomes available for supporting research. So most of our activities this year are geared towards repositioning our utilization program so that when the shuttle stops flying and the commercial cargo resupply services begin we are ready to ramp up that program aggressively, and that’s going very well.

Universe Today: I’ve been here at Kennedy Space Center for about a month and a half and a lot of the people here are talking about a possible extension for the space shuttle program. What are your thoughts on that?

Uhran: Well, the shuttle was certainly required for the assembly phase because we were hauling 20 metric ton elements up to orbit. It literally is the equivalent of a six-wheeler truck. But for the utilization phase, we can continue to maintain and operate the space station at much lower supply rates; typically 3 metric tons on a half a dozen to a dozen times a year. So there are other vehicles both that our international partners bring to the table as well as we’re hoping that the commercial US industry will demonstrate in the next 12-24 months that really will meet our needs once those are available. So although we’d all like to see the shuttles continue to fly forever, we really don’t have a requirement on space station for that kind of relatively heavy lift capability.

A close-up look at the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. Credit: NASA

Universe Today: Another issue that has been sort of looming for the space station is the solar alpha rotary joints (SARJ). Any progress on understanding why they aren’t working as hoped?

Uhran: Well, they are working now. And the failure analysis has been completed. So we know the root causes of the problem. The most challenging mechanisms in any spacecraft system are rotating mechanisms. So the control moment gyros, the solar array rotary joints, the thermal radiator rotary joints – they are all rotating mechanisms. And we’re passing power through those mechanisms, which adds to the complexity. So we think that we have all these under control. It turned out with the SARJ that we have determined the cause of the failure, and we’re doing, really two things. We’re operating the system more gently – we ramp it up more slowly, we stop it more slowly. That doesn’t put as much load on the system. And we find that is applicable to all our systems. The more gently we can operate them the less loads they bear and the longer their lifetime. So we’ll be operating the system more gently and we’ll be lubricating them more regularly. So between those two approaches, we’re pretty confident we won’t have any more problems with the SARJ. We do have a couple of tricks in our pocket in the case that we do see further problems but we think we can get there with the two remedial actions we’ve got now.

Universe Today: To do the lubrication requires a spacewalk?

Uhran: It’s an EVA based activity, yes. It is relatively simple. And not even that time consuming. We were lubricating before, we’ll just increase the frequency.

Thanks to Mark Uhran for taking the time to talk with Universe Today. For more information on the International Space station, visit www.nasa.gov/station.

March 26, 2010January 22, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Fate of Apollo 13 Crew Might Have Been Much Different Than Originally Thought

When the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft returned to Earth following their aborted moon mission in 1970, no one really knew if the command module would come in at the proper angle to avoid burning up in the atmosphere or even skip off the atmosphere and be bounced out into space. If the CM did skip off, the crew might be destined to spend a fatal eternity out in space. Or would they? Author Andrew Chaikin, who wrote the Apollo chronicle “A Man on the Moon,” asked Analytical Graphics lnc. (AGI) to do a computer simulation of what would have happened, and they found things could have been much different than originally thought. Watch this video, narrated by Chaikin to find out.

April 2010 will be the 40th anniversary of Apollo 13.
Continue reading “Fate of Apollo 13 Crew Might Have Been Much Different Than Originally Thought”

March 25, 2010December 24, 2015 by Ken Kremer

Russians Unveil Science Beauty in Florida

Russian built Mini Research Module MRM-1 set to launch aboard US Space Shuttle Atlantis in May 2010 undergoes final prelaunch processing in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer

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Russian space managers unveiled a science beauty today (March 25) in Florida, namely the ‘Rassvet’ research room which serves as Russia’s newest contribution to the International Space Station. Although ‘Rassvet’ was built entirely in Russia, the module is hitching a ride aboard the American Space Shuttle Atlantis as the primary cargo for the STS 132 station assembly mission slated to blast off soon in May 2010. ‘Rassvet’ translates as ‘Dawn’.

I was quite fortunate to inspect ‘Rassvet’ up close today during a press briefing and photo op inside the clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Port Canaveral, FL and also speak with the top Russian space officials from RSC Energia who are responsible for her construction. Astrotech is situated a few miles south of the shuttle launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center from which she’ll depart Earth.

NASA is launching ‘Rassvet’, formally known as the Mini Research Module-1, or MRM 1, as part of a complex barter agreement among the partner nations of the ISS to share the costs of assembling and operating the massive orbiting outpost.

MRM-1 will be attached to the Earth- facing (nadir) port of the russian Zarya control module at the ISS. See diagram below showing location of MRM-1 and other components on the Russian Orbital Segment of the ISS.

Side view of Russian built Mini Research Module MRM-1 set to launch aboard Shuttle Atlantis during STS 132 flight in May 2010. Russian Soyuz and Progress capsules will berth at the docking port at right. Sensitive surfaces on the docking mechanism are currently protected by red covers which will be removed before flight to space. Credit: Ken Kremer

“MRM 1 arrived in Florida on Dec 17, 2009 from Russia and will be utilized for scientific research, cargo stowage, and also to provide an additional docking port at the ISS,” said Mikhail Kashitsyn, the Deputy Technical Manager and Head of MRM 1 Prelaunch Processing for the Design Bureau division of RSC Energia. RSC Energia is the prime contractor to Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, and is responsible for the design, development and processing of MRM 1.

Russian MRM 1 managers: Mikhail Kashitsyn, Deputy Technical Manager Head of MRM 1 Prelaunch Processing and Sergey Saveliev, Deputy Project Manager for MRM1. from the Design Bureau division of RSC Energia at Astrotech for press briefing on March 25, 2010. Credit: Ken Kremer

The additional docking port provided by MRM -1 will greatly aid ISS mission planners in accommodating the busy manifest of berthings of incoming Soyuz, Progress and ATV vehicles on the Russian side of the station and alleviate the need to repark the ships as new vessels arrive.

“We have been working at a steady pace to complete the final check out and assembly of MRM 1for installation into the shuttle orbiter. Let me welcome you all here to view MRM 1 which was designed by RSC Energia, one of the leading corporations in Russia”.
“All preparations will be completed in about 1 week. It’s wonderful we have this cooperation with our American colleagues and I want to express my thanks to the US and NASA for their help and mutual understanding,” added Mr. Kashitsyn.

“MRM 1 will be the largest piece of Russian space hardware ever to launch on an American rocket,” Kashitsyn told me. “The last large piece of Russian space equipment to launch from the US was the Mir docking module for the Mir space station”.
“Several thousand people worked on MRM 1 in Russia and it took about 2 years to build. About 100 are involved in the pre launch preparations here at Port Canaveral”.

“Furthermore, the interior of the module will also be loaded with 1.5 tons of NASA cargo and supplies for the ISS, including items such as food, lithium hydroxide canisters, computers and printers”, according to Kashitsyn.

“This will be the last payload for Atlantis,” said Robert Ashley, the NASA ISS manager responsible for the STS 132 payload processing. “This will be my last mission as a station mission manager. It’s bittersweet. There will be a lot of lasts for a lot of people on these final shuttle missions”.

100 Russian scientists and engineers have spent several months working at Astrotech and have nearly completed preparing the Russian built Mini Research Module MRM-1 for launch aboard Atlantis to the ISS . Credit: Ken Kremer

“MRM 1 will be shipped to the NASA Space Station Processing Facility at KSC on April 2. After about three days of final integration and pressurization tests, it will be loaded into a shipping container on April 5 for delivery to the shuttle launch pad,” Ashley said.

The MRM-1 payload comprises the module itself, an airlock chamber, an exterior portable work station and replacement elbow joints for the European Robotic Arm. The total mass exceeds 17,000 pounds.

Integrated Cargo Carrier during prelaunch preparations at Astrotech facility in clean room adjacent to MRM 1. Credit Ken Kremer

Also tucked in Atlantis payload bay will be the 8000 lb Integrated Logistics Carrier (ICC) carrying spare parts and Orbital Replacement Units (ORU’s) including six spare batteries, a boom assembly for the Ku-band antenna and spares for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm extension.

STS 132 is currently planned as the final flight of Atlantis. Unless the shuttle program is extended, Atlantis will be the first of NASA’s three shuttle orbiters to be retired from duty marking a significant milestone toward the end of the Space Shuttle Program. Many experts both in and out of NASA now say that the shuttles are being prematurely retired, mostly due to a lack of money.

Location of MRM-1 and other components on the Russian Orbital Segment of the ISS

Russia MRM 1 Research Module and Ken Kremer at Astrotech Space Operation Facility in Port Canaveral, Florida for press briefing

March 24, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

ISS to get ‘Man Cave’ Complete with Robot Butler

Cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko floats inside Leonardo during its first flight to the ISS. Leonardo will become a permanant module later in 2010. Credit: NASA

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There might be a new favorite hang-out for astronauts aboard the International Space Station later this year. The Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) known as Leonardo – which will be going to the ISS on the upcoming STS-131 mission carrying cargo and supplies — will be transformed after the mission into a Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), and brought up to stay on the station on STS-133 as a storeroom for supplies. But it might also become a haven to get away from it all.

“The thought is, the PMM might become sort of a ‘man cave’,” said Mike Kinslow, the Boeing payload manager out at Kennedy Space Center. “It won’t have all the background noise of fans, computers and other equipment running like in the laboratories, so it will be a quieter atmosphere that might appeal to the astronauts during their off-duty hours.”

No plans for a big screen TV Kinslow said, but there will be ports for computers, and since internet is now available on the ISS, Leonardo could be the location of choice to compose emails to loved ones back home, or do a little Twittering.

Another interesting piece of hardware scheduled to fly on the PMM is the Robonaut 2, NASA’s second generation of dexterous robots with a human-like torso that can work with tools and one day are envisioned to be able to do EVA work outside the ISS. But for now, R2 will be tested inside the station in zero-g. “It will be used on orbit for routine maintenance indoors only.” said Kinslow, “This is not an external unit.”

It has a “head” with a vision system, with hands that can do work, controlled by virtual-reality-like operation. Any chance R2 could be programmed to serve drinks or bring food into the man cave?

See our article on how General Motors is going to use R2 for manufacturing cars.

Turning Leonardo into a permanent module will take some work, said NASA Payload Manager Joe Delai. “Once it returns from this flight we will beef up the external shield and change things internally to become a permanent module. It will be about a four month process to get it ready.”

Leonard being attached to the ISS on a previous mission. Credit: NASA TV

The MPLMs were built in Italy, but are owned by the U.S. and provided in exchange for Italian access to U.S. research time on the Station. Four modules were built; three flew to the ISS. STS-131 will be Leonardo’s seventh trip to space.

Kinslow said shields for an MPLM are lighter weight because they are only meant to be on orbit for 2 weeks at a time. “Leonardo will be plated with a multilevel Kevlar blanket, the same type of exterior shielding other modules have, which is similar to armor plating, to protect against meteorite or debris impact. Internally, not a lot of changes will be made,” he said. “It already has a ventilation system like a normal module, but will need a computer system and a few other additions.”

Leonardo won’t be outfitted with a sleep station or crew quarters because it might be in a more vulnerable position for radiation or debris hits. “They don’t really want crew to get in and sleep because of the shielding,” Kinslow said. “It will be a storage module, and we’re discussing putting exercise equipment in there.”

The PMM will be berthed on the Node 1 nadir, or Earth-facing port. Leonardo measures about 6.5 meters (21 feet) long and 4.5 meters (15 feet) in diameter.

STS-131 is currently scheduled for an April 5 launch, and STS-133 is shooting for a September 2010 launch.

Just a note on the ISS internet: T.J. Creamer, who is on board the station now told Universe Today that they aren’t able to have streaming video or download large files. “In terms of download speeds – you know, back in the old days, it kind of compares to 9.6 and the 14.4 kilobyte modems, so it’s not really fast enough to do large file exchange or videos, but it certainly lets us to do browsing and the fun reading we want to do, or get caught up on current events on that day. It’s a nice outreach for us, and of course you’ve heard about the Twittering which is a nice feature that we can partake in also.”

March 24, 2010December 24, 2015 by Ken Kremer

SDO On Station Transmitting First Data as Solar Science Payloads Open Today

Blast off on Feb 11 of mighty Atlas V rocket and SDO from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral as viewed from the KSC press site. Credit: Ken Kremer

Video Caption: EVE rediscovered the Van Allen Radiation Belt. These EVE data highlight where the energetic protons are in the inner Van Allen radiation belt. The red dots indicate the highest concentration of protons (lower altitude), and the blue-violet dots represents very little detection of particles (higher altitude of GEO). Visualization by Chris Jeppesen.

Following several precise propulsion burns to circularize its orbit, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has arrived “On Station” and multiple tasks critical to check out of the science instruments are in progress this week, according to Dean Pesnell. Pesnell is the SDO project scientist from NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center which built the spacecraft and manages the nearly $1 Billion mission for NASA.

“We reached our final orbit on March 16, 2010”, Pesnell told me in an interview. “The SDO spacecraft is working great and all systems are behaving as expected”. SDO was launched on Feb. 11, 2010 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket.

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The revolutionary science mission has been dubbed the “crown jewel” of NASA’s Solar Exploration research fleet, joining the twin STEREO spacecraft and SOHO. SDO is equipped with three science instruments (HMI, AIA, and EVE) to explore the Sun and its complex interior mechanisms in unprecedented detail.

Although the doors to the solar science payload will be opened starting just today (March 24), SDO has already managed to transmit its “first data”, Pesnell explained. This bonus science data from Earth’s radiation belt was unexpected he said. The first solar light data will come after the science instruments are fully activated.

“One detector in EVE was responding to the protons in the inner Van Allen radiation belt. We spent several orbits going through that part of space and EVE was able to produce a map of the radiation belt,” said Pesnell.

“The amount of proton data was not expected as we were not supposed to spend as much time in the belts as we did. By spending a few extra days in the inner belt the MEGS-P radiometer was able to measure a more complete picture of the radiation belt. It may be the only measurement of the proton fluxes in the inner radiation belt during the extremely low solar activity of the current solar minimum,” added Pesnell.

Check out of the science payload is moving ahead swiftly as planned. “The SDO instruments are working through their initial steps to turning them completely on”, Pesnell explained. A key activity was to “bake out” the instruments to remove any remaining harmful contaminants that could threaten to degrade the quality of the science data.

“CCD decontamination heaters had been turned on for several weeks to allow the instruments to outgas any residual contamination”, according to Pesnell. “During the first 40 days of the mission the instruments kept their CCDs hot with heaters. This prevents water vapor from condensing onto the surfaces of the CCDs while forcing water vapor out of the interior of the instruments. Two instruments, HMI and EVE, have turned off their decontamination heaters while AIA will turn them off next week. Those heaters are being turned off to allow the CCD’s to cool to their normal operating temperatures of about minus 100 C”.

“HMI will open their payload door Wednesday and begin checking out the instrument. EVE is cooling their CCDs getting ready to open their doors on Thursday. AIA will open their doors on Saturday”.

Pesnell mentioned that the SDO team expects to show off the initial data at a telecom in mid-April. “The science data should start to flow in early May, fully calibrated data will show up later. We will discuss the data at the SPD/AAS meeting in Miami, FL at the end of May”.

SDO will collect a staggering 1.5 terabytes of data per day, equivalent to 380 full length movies per day on a 24/7 basis. “The data will be continuously beamed back to newly built receivers on Earth. We have no onboard recorders since nothing is available to handle such a huge data volume,” said Pesnell. “SDO will transmit 50 times more science data than any other mission in NASA history”.

Test data have already been transmitted via the spacecraft antenna to the receiving station on the ground in New Mexico, confirming that the vital communications systems are operating perfectly.

SDO’s measurements of the Sun’s interior, magnetic field and hot plasma of the solar corona will allow scientists to determine how violent solar events are created which then cause ‘space weather’ that ultimately affects every aspect of life here on Earth. The goal is create better predictions of ‘space weather’ in order to provide early warning to valuable satellites and astronauts operating in space, and to prevent disruption to navigation systems and failures in the power grid.

Rocket firing to raise SDO to its final orbit on March 16, 2010. click to enlarge

SDO was launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit with an apogee altitude (farthest point from Earth) of 36,000 km (22,000 miles) and a perigee altitude (closest point to Earth) of 2500 km (1600 miles). Over the next 34 days the propulsion module was used to raise the perigee altitude to 36,000 km, with a few small burns to push both apogee and perigee to geosynchronous.

“SDO is in an inclined geosynchronous orbit at the longitude of New Mexico. The inclination of 28 degrees is the natural orbit when launched from Kennedy Space Center. Changing the inclination of an orbit requires a lot of fuel, so this orbit was less expensive than a geostationary orbit,” said Pesnell. This orbit will keep the observatory in constant view of the two newly constructed 18-meter dishes around the clock so that not a single bit of data should be lost.

Nancy Atkinson and Ken Kremer covered the Feb 11, 2010 SDO launch on site at KSC for Universe Today

Read SDO launch report by Nancy Atkinson here.

Read earlier SDO reports by Ken Kremer below, including from on site at the Atlas launch pad

NASA Sun Probe rolled to Pad; 10 hours to Blast off

NASA’s Solar Crown Jewel Bolted atop Atlas Rocket

NASA advanced Solar Observatory nearing February launch; will send IMAX like movies daily

Learn more at the NASA SDO Website

SDO soars to space from the Kennedy Space Center atop Atlas V rocket on Feb 11, 2010 as I observed from the KSC Press Site. Credit: Ken Kremer

Artist's concept of the Solar Dynamics Observatory in Orbit

March 22, 2010April 26, 2016 by Nicholos Wethington

First Flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo

Virgin Galactic, the private aerospace company founded by billionaire Richard Branson, successfully tested the passenger space-plane SpaceShipTwo today. SpaceShipTwo (SS2), is also called the Virgin Space Ship Enterprise, or VSS Enterprise, an obvious tribute to another space vehicle of some note. SS2 was carried to 45,000 feet (13.7km) by its mothership, named WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), or ‘Eve’, after Branson’s mother. In this initial ‘captive carry’ test of the space plane, it remained attached to the mothership for the duration of the flight.

The SS2/WK2 combo took off from a runway at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, and flew for approximately three hours over the deserts of the Antelope Valley. SS2 is a prototype passenger vehicle that is designed to take astronauts to suborbital flight. If the remaining tests go as planned, it will eventually take a crew of two pilots and up to six passengers to the edge of space, at just over 100km (62 miles).This may happen as early as the end of 2011.

SpaceShipTwo is an all-carbon composite plane that uses a hybrid rocket motor, and will be carried to 50,000 feet (15.2 km) by WhiteKnightTwo before being released. It will then fire the rocket to propel it above the Karman line.

Here’s a video of the takeoff and landing of SS2 today:

SS2 was unveiled to the public in December of last year, and this is the first in a series of tests to determine how safe and operational the craft is before it can begin to bring passengers into space. It will undergo another captive carry flight to 50,000 feet, and then will be brought into the air by WK2 and released in subsequent tests.

SpaceShipTwo was designed by Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, who also led the design team for SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize of $10 million in 2004 for completing the first series of manned commercial spaceflights.

If you have $200,000 laying around and want to go into space, SS2 is your space plane. However, you’re going to have to get in line: over 300 people have already signed up for seats on the plane.

Source: Space.com, Virgin Galactic