SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before May 2012 blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on historic maiden private commercial launch to the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer/www.kenkremer.com
Kennedy Space Center – All systems are GO and the weather outlook looks spectacular for the March 1 blast off of the privately developed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Falcon 9 is slated to lift off at 10:10 AM EST with a Dragon capsule loaded with fresh supplies and science gear to continued full up operation and utilization of the ISS.
Right now the weather forecast is at 80% GO on March 1 – with superbly beautiful, clear blue skies here in sunny and comfortably warm Florida from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Large crowds of eager tourists, sightseers and space enthusiasts are already gathering in local hotels – most are sold out including at my hotel where I have been holding well attended ISS star parties during excellent evening viewing opportunities this week.
NASA TV will provide live launch coverage starting at 8 30 AM. SpaceX will also provide a separate feed starting about 40 minutes prior to launch.
The two stage Falcon 9 rocket was rolled out horizontally to the pad late this afternoon (Thursday, Feb. 28) in anticipation of a Friday morning launch. Myself and Dave Dickinson are on-site for Universe Today
The mission dubbed CRS-2 will be only the 2nd commercial resupply mission ever to the ISS.
There are no technical concerns at this time. Saturday March 2 is the back-up launch date in case of a last second scrub. Weather is projected as 80% favorable.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and NASA officials told me that additional launch opportunities are available Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, if needed, and later until about March 11. After that, the launch team would have to stand down to make way for the next eventual departure of a docked Soyuz and launch of a manned Russian Soyuz capsule with a new three man crew.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket liftoff on May 22, 2012 from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on the first commercial mission to the International Space Station. Credit: Ken Kremer
The SpaceX Dragon capsule is carrying about 1,200 pounds of vital supplies and research experiments for the six man international crew living aboard the million pound orbiting outpost.
SpaceX is under contract to NASA to deliver over 44,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS during a dozen flights over the next few years at a cost of about $1.6 Billion.
The capsule is fully loaded Shotwell told me. An upgraded Falcon 9 will be used in the next launch that will allow for a significant increase in the cargo up mass, Shotwell elaborated.
The Dragon is due to dock with the ISS in record time some 20 hours after blast off.
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of Curiosity's sample-processing and delivery tool just after the tool delivered a portion of powdered rock into the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. This Collection and Handling for In-situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) tool delivered portions of the first sample ever acquired from the interior of a rock on Mars into both SAM and the rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity rover has eaten the 1st ever samples of gray rocky powder cored from the interior of a Martian rock.
The robotic arm delivered aspirin sized samples of the pulverized powder to the rover’s Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments this past weekend on Feb. 22 and 23, or Sols 195 and 196 respectively.
Both of Curiosity’s chemistry labs have already begun analyzing the samples – but don’t expect results anytime soon because of the complexity of the operation involved.
“Analysis has begun and could take weeks,’ NASA JPL spokesman Guy Webster told Universe Today.
The samples were collected from the rover’s 1st drilling site known as ‘John Klein’ – comprised of a red colored slab of flat, fine-grained, sedimentary bedrock shot through with mineral veins of Calcium Sulfate that formed in water.
“Data from the instruments have confirmed the deliveries,” said Curiosity Mission Manager Jennifer Trosper of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
On Feb. 8, 2013 (mission Sol 182), Curiosity used the rotary-percussion drill mounted on the tool turret at the end of the 7 foot (2.1 meter) long robotic arm to bore a circular hole about 0.63 inch (16 mm) wide and about 2.5 inches (64 mm) deep into ‘John Klein’ that produced a slurry of gray tailings
Curiosity accomplished Historic 1st drilling into Martian rock at John Klein outcrop on Feb 8, 2013 (Sol 182), shown in this context mosaic view of the Yellowknife Bay basin taken on Jan. 26 (Sol 169) where the robot is currently working. The robotic arm is pressing down on the surface at John Klein outcrop of veined hydrated minerals – dramatically back dropped with her ultimate destination; Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
The gray colored tailings give a completely fresh insight into Mars that offers a stark contrast to the prevailing views of reddish-orange rusty, oxidized dust.
The eventual results from SAM and CheMin may give clues about what exactly does the color change mean. One theory is that it might be related to different oxidations states of iron that could potentially inform us about the habitability of Mars insides the rover’s Gale Crater landing site.
“The rock drilling capability is a significant advancement. It allows us to go beyond the surface layer of the rock, unlocking a time capsule of evidence about the state of Mars going back 3 or 4 Billion years,” said Louise Jandura of JPL and Curiosity’s chief engineer for the sampling system.
Additional portions of the first John Klein sample could be delivered to SAM and CheMin if the results warrant. The state-of-the-art instruments are testing the gray powder to elucidate the chemical composition and search for simple and complex organic molecules based on carbon, which are the building blocks of life as we know it.
Curiosity’s Mastcam camera snapped this photo mosaic of 1st drill holes into Martian rock at John Klein outcrop inside Yellowknife Bay basin where the robot is currently working. Notice the gray powdery tailings from the rocks interior. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
The Curiosity science team believes that this work area inside Gale Crater called Yellowknife Bay, experienced repeated percolation of flowing liquid water long ago when Mars was warmer and wetter – and therefore was potentially more hospitable to the possible evolution of life.
Curiosity is nearly 7 months into her 2 year long primary mission. So far she has snapped over 45,000 images.
“The mission is discovery driven,” says John Grotzinger, the Curiosity mission’s chief scientist of the California Institute of Technology.
The rover will likely remain in the John Klein area for several more weeks to a month or more to obtain a more complete scientific characterization of the area which has seen repeated episodes of flowing water.
Eventually, the six-wheeled mega rover will set off on a nearly year long trek to her main destination – the sedimentary layers of the lower reaches of the 3 mile (5 km) high mountain named Mount Sharp – some 6 miles (10 km) away.
Capture of the Dragon during the October 2012 CRS-1 mission. (Credit: NASA/ISS).
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft may be appearing in a backyard sky near you this weekend. Scheduled to launch this Friday on March 1st at 10:10 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST)/15:10 Universal Time (UT), this will be the 3rd resupply flight for the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). And the great news is, you may just be able to catch the spacecraft as it chases down the ISS worldwide.
The Space Shuttle and the ISS captured by the author as seen from Northern Maine shortly after undocking in June, 2007.
Catching a satellite in low Earth orbit is an unforgettable sight. Satellites appear as moving “stars” against the background sky, shining steadily (unless they’re tumbling!) in the sunlight overhead in the dawn or dusk sky. Occasionally, you may catch a flare in brightness as a reflective panel catches the sunlight just right. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Iridium constellation of satellites can flare in this fashion.
At 109 metres in size, the ISS is the largest object ever constructed in orbit and is easily visible to the naked eye. It has an angular diameter of about 50” when directly overhead (about the visual size of Saturn plus rings near opposition). I can just make out a tiny box-like structure with binoculars when it passes overhead. If the orientation of the station and its solar panels is just right, it looks like a tiny luminous Star Wars TIE fighter as viewed through binoculars!
Dragon in the processing hangar at Cape Canaveral. (Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett).
But what’s even more amazing is to watch a spacecraft rendezvous with the ISS, as diligent observers may witness this weekend. Your best bet will be to use predictions for ISS passes from your location. Heavens-Above, CALSky and Space Weather all have simple trackers for sky watchers. More advanced observers may want to use an application known as Orbitron which allows you to manually load updated Two-Line Element sets (TLEs) from Celestrak or NORAD’s Space-Track website for use in the field sans Internet connection. Note that Space-Track requires permission to access; they welcome amateur sat-spotters and educators, but they also want to assure that no “rogue entities” are accessing the site! Continue reading “Spotting the Dragon: How to See SpaceX on Approach to the ISS This Weekend”
View of Rhode Island from the ISS, captured by Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford. Providence is just past the top center edge. (NASA)
It’s a wonderful thing for children to look up to their fathers, but some kids have to look a little further than others — especially when dad is in command of the International Space Station!
Around 6 p.m. EST on February 14, the ISS passed over southern New England, and for a few brief moments the Station was directly above Rhode Island, at 37 miles wide the smallest state in the US. 240 miles up and heading northeast at 17,500 mph, the ISS quickly passed out of sight for anyone watching from the ground, but it was enough time for Heidi and Anthony Ford to get a view of the place where their father Kevin Ford has been living and working since the end of October… and thanks to Brown University’s historic Ladd Observatory and astronomer Robert Horton they got to see the Station up close while talking to their dad on the phone.
“One of the things [Anthony and I] like to do is to pop outside to watch dad fly over, which you can do on occasion when the timing is just right,” Heidi said. “We were looking at the schedule to see when the flyover would be so we could go see him. I remembered that the Ladd was open to the public, so I thought I’d call over there and see if this is something we could visit the Ladd to do.”
Robert Horton, an astronomer with Brown University, was happy to meet Heidi and Anthony at the Ladd for the flyover.
Heidi and Anthony Ford’s view of the ISS (Robert Horton/Brown University)
While the Ladd’s main 12″ telescope doesn’t have the ability to track fast-moving objects like the ISS, Horton had some at home that could. So he set one of them up at the observatory and prepared to track the station during its six-minute pass.
Just before the flyby, Heidi’s phone rang — it was her dad calling from the ISS.
“He told her, ‘I’m over Texas. I’ll be there in a few minutes,’” Horton said later in an interview with Brown reporters. “Sure enough the point of light appeared in the sky and we started to track it. They could look through the eyepiece and actually make out the solar panels while they were talking with him.”
The Brown University-run Ladd Observatory holds free public viewing nights every Tuesday, weather permitting. People line up inside the 122-year-old dome to peer through its recently restored 12″ refracting telescope at objects like the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn, and local amateur astronomers set up their own ‘scopes on the observatory’s rooftop deck for additional viewing opportunities.
Heidi had told their dad that they’d be watching from Providence as he passed over, and luckily his schedule allowed him to make a phone call during that particular evening’s pass.
NASA astronauts Kevin Ford (foreground) and Tom Marshburn working with the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) in the ISS’ Destiny laboratory on Jan. 9 (NASA)
While they had both watched flyovers before, it was the first time either of them had ever seen the ISS through a telescope.
It made for a “very special Valentine’s Day,” Heidi said.
And as for Horton, who had donated the use of his telescope? He got a chance to talk with Commander Ford as well — an experience he’ll likely never forget.
“I can think of a thousand questions to ask him now that I’m not on the phone with him,” Horton said. “But, frankly, I was awestruck at the time.”
US-European Asteroid Impact and Deflection mission – AIDA.
Planetary Defense is a concept very few people heard of or took seriously – that is until last week’s humongous and totally unexpected meteor explosion over Russia sent millions of frightened residents ducking for cover, followed just hours later by Earth’s uncomfortably close shave with the 45 meter (150 ft) wide asteroid named 2012 DA14.
This ‘Cosmic Coincidence’ of potentially catastrophic space rocks zooming around Earth is a wakeup call that underscores the need to learn much more about the ever present threat from the vast array of unknown celestial debris in close proximity to Earth and get serious about Planetary Defense from asteroid impacts.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) proposed Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission, or AIDA, could significantly bolster both our basic knowledge about asteroids in our neighborhood and perhaps even begin testing Planetary Defense concepts and deflection strategies.
After two years of work, research teams from the US and Europe have selected the mission’s target – a so called ‘binary asteroid’ named Didymos – that AIDA will intercept and smash into at about the time of its closest approach to Earth in 2022 when it is just 11 million kilometers away.
“AIDA is not just an asteroid mission, it is also meant as a research platform open to all different mission users,” says Andres Galvez, ESA studies manager.
Asteroid Didymos could provide a great platform for a wide variety of research endeavors because it’s actually a complex two body system with a moon – and they orbit each other. The larger body is roughly 800 meters across, while the smaller one is about 150 meters wide.
Didymos with its Moon. Credit: ESA
So the smaller body is some 15 times bigger than the Russian meteor and 3 times the size of Asteroid 2012 DA14 which flew just 27,700 km (17,200 mi) above Earth’s surface on Feb. 15, 2013.
The low cost AIDA mission would be comprised of two spacecraft – a mother ship and a collider. Two ships for two targets.
The US collider is named the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART and would smash into the smaller body at about 6.25 km per second. The impact should change the pace at which the objects spin around each other.
ESA’s mothership is named Asteroid Impact Monitor, or AIM, and would carry out a detailed science survey of Didymos both before and after the violent collision.
“The project has value in many areas,” says Andy Cheng, AIDA lead at Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory, “from applied science and exploration to asteroid resource utilisation.” Cheng was a key member of NASA’s NEAR mission that first orbited and later landed on the near Earth Asteroid named Eros back in 2001.
Recall that back in 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact mission successfully lobbed a projectile into Comet Tempel 1 that unleashed a fiery explosion and spewing out vast quantities of material from the comet’s interior, including water and organics.
NASA’s Deep Impact images Comet Tempel 1 alive with light after colliding with the impactor spacecraft on July 4, 2005. ESA and NASA are now proposing the AIDA mission to smash into Asteroid Didymos. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
ESA has invited researchers to submit AIDA experiment proposals on a range of ideas including anything that deals with hypervelocity impacts, planetary science, planetary defense, human exploration or innovation in spacecraft operations. The deadline is 15 March.
“It is an exciting opportunity to do world-leading research of all kinds on a problem that is out of this world,” says Stephan Ulamec from the DLR German Aerospace Center. “And it helps us learn how to work together in international missions tackling the asteroid impact hazard.”
The Russian meteor exploded without warning in mid air with a force of nearly 500 kilotons of TNT, the equivalent of about 20–30 times the atomic bombs detonated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Over 1200 people were injured in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region and some 4000 buildings were damaged at a cost exceeding tens of millions of dollars. A ground impact would have decimated cities like New York, Moscow or Beijing with millions likely killed.
ESA’s AIDA mission concept and NASA’s approved Osiris-REx asteroid sample return mission will begin the path to bolster our basic knowledge about asteroids and hopefully inform us on asteroid deflection and Planetary Defense strategies.
First Curiosity Drilling Sample in the Scoop. This image shows the first sample of powdered rock extracted by the rover's drill after transfer from the drill to the rover's scoop. The sample will now be sieved and portions delivered to the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument and the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument. The scoop is 1.8 inches (4.5 centimeters) wide. The image was taken by Curiosity's Mastcam 34 camera on Feb. 20, or Sol 193.The image has been white-balanced to show what the sample would look like if it were on Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Newly received images from the surface of Mars confirm that NASA’sCuriosity rover successfully extracted the 1st ever samples collected by drilling down inside a rock on another planet and transferred the pulverized alien powder to the robots processing scoop, thrilled mission scientists announced just hours after seeing visual corroboration.
Collecting the 1st particles bored from the interior of a rock on a planet beyond Earth marks a historic feat in humankind’s exploration of the cosmos – and is crucial for achieving Curiosity’s goal to determine whether Mars ever could have supported microbial life, past or present.
The essential next step is to feed carefully sieved portions of the precious gray colored material into the high powered duo of miniaturized analytical chemistry labs (CheMin & SAM) inside the rover, for thorough analysis and scrutiny of their mineral content and to search for signatures of organic molecules – the building blocks of life as we know it.
Curiosity is drilling into ancient bedrock and hunting for clues to the planet’s habitability over the eons and that preserve the historical record – perhaps including organics.
The rover team believes that this work area inside Gale Crater called Yellowknife Bay, experienced repeated percolation of flowing liquid water long ago when Mars was warmer and wetter – and therefore was potentially more hospitable to the possible evolution of life. See our Yellowknife Bay worksite and drill hole photo mosaics below by Ken Kremer & Marco Di Lorenzo, created from rover raw images.
Curiosity accomplished Historic 1st drilling into Martian rock at John Klein outcrop on Feb 8, 2013 (Sol 182), shown in this context mosaic view of the Yellowknife Bay basin taken on Jan. 26 (Sol 169) where the robot is currently working. The robotic arm is pressing down on the surface at John Klein outcrop of veined hydrated minerals – dramatically back dropped with her ultimate destination; Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)/Marco Di Lorenzo
“We collected about a tablespoon of powder, which meets our expectations and is a great result,” said JPL’s Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer for Curiosity, at a NASA media briefing on Feb. 20. “We are all very happy and relieved that the drilling was a complete success.”
The gray colored tailings from the rocky interior offer a startlingly fresh sight of Mars compared to the red-orangey veneer of rusty, oxidized dust we are so accustomed to seeing globally across what we humans have referred to for centuries as the “Red Planet”.
“For the first time we are examining ancient rocks that have not been exposed to the Martian surface environment, and weathering, and preserve the environment in which they formed,” said Joel Hurowitz, Curiosity sampling system scientist of JPL.
This is a key point because subsequent oxidation reactions can destroy organic molecules and thereby potential signs of habitability and life.
“The tailings are gray. All things being equal it’s better to have a gray color than red because oxidation is something that can destroy organic compounds,” said John Grotzinger, the Curiosity mission’s chief scientist of the California Institute of Technology.
On Feb. 8, 2013 (mission Sol 182), Curiosity used the rotary-percussion drill mounted on the tool turret at the end of the 7 foot (2.1 meter) long robotic arm to bore a circular hole about 0.63 inch (16 mm) wide and about 2.5 inches (64 mm) deep into a red colored slab of flat, fine-grained, veiny sedimentary bedrock named “John Klein” that formed in water.
“Curiosity’s first drill hole at the John Klein site is a historic moment for the MSL mission, JPL, NASA and the United States. This is the first time any robot, fixed or mobile, has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars,” said Louise Jandura, Curiosity’s chief engineer for the sampling system.
“In fact, this is the first time any rover has drilled into a rock to collect a sample anywhere but on Earth. In the five decade history of the space age this is indeed a rare event.”
“The rock drilling capability is a significant advancement. It allows us to go beyond the surface layer of the rock, unlocking a time capsule of evidence about the state of Mars going back 3 or 4 Billion years.”
“Using our roving geologist Curiosity, the scientists can choose the rock, get inside the rock and deliver the powdered sample to instruments on the rover for analysis.”
“We couldn’t all be happier as Curiosity drilled her first hole on Mars,” said Jandura.
Over the next few days, the powdery gray scoop material will be shaken and moved through Curiosity’s sample processing device known as CHIMRA, or Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis and sieved through ultra fine screens that filter out particles larger than 150 microns (0.006 inch) across – about the width of a human strand of hair.
Figure shows the location of CHIMRA on the turret of NASA’s Curiosity rover, together with a cutaway view of the device. The CHIMRA, short for Collection and Handling for In-situ Martian Rock Analysis, processes samples from the rover’s scoop or drill and delivers them to science instruments. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Drilling goes to the heart of the mission. It is absolutely indispensable for collecting and conveying pristine portions of Martian rocks and soil to a trio of inlet ports on top of the rover deck leading into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument .
The sieving process is designed to prevent clogging downstream into the chemistry labs.
The pair of state-of-the-art instruments will then test the gray rocky powder for a variety of inorganic minerals as well as both simple and complex organic molecules.
Samples will be dropped off first to CheMin and then SAM over the next few days. Results are expected soon.
The data so far indicate the drilled rock is either siltstone or mudstone with a basaltic bulk composition, said Hurowitz. The CheMin and SAM testing will be revealing.
The high powered drill was the last of Curiosity 10 instruments still to be checked out and put into full operation and completes the robots commissioning phase.
“This is a real big turning point for us as we had a passing of the key for the rover [from the engineering team] to the science team,” said Grotzinger.
Curiosity has discovered that Yellowknife Bay is loaded with hydrated mineral veins of calcium sulfate that precipitated from interaction with aqueous environments.
I asked how was the drill target hole selected?
“We wanted to be well centered in a large plate of bedrock where we knew we could place the drill into a stable location on an interesting rock,” Hurowitz told Universe Today.
“The drill did not specifically target the veins or nodular features visible in this rock. But these rocks are so shot through with these features that it’s hard to imagine that we would have been missed them somewhere along the travel of the drill.”
“We will find out what’s in the material once we get the materials analyzed by SAM and CheMin.
“We will consider additional drill targets if we think we missed a component of the rock.”
“We believe the white vein material is calcium sulfate based on data from ChemCam and APXS but we don’t yet know the hydration state.” Hurowitz told me.
Regarding the prospects for conducting additional sample drilling and soil scooping at Yellowknife Bay, Grotzinger told me, “We have to take it one step at a time.”
“We have to see what we find in the first sample. We are discovery driven and that will determine what we do next here,” Grotzinger said. “We have no quotas.”
The long term mission goal remains to drive to the lower reaches of Mount Sharp some 6 miles away and look for habitable environments in the sedimentary layers.
Curiosity executed a flawless and unprecedented nail-biting, pinpoint touchdown on Aug. 5, 2012 to begin her 2 year long primary mission inside Gale Crater. So far she has snapped over 45,000 images, traveled nearly 0.5 miles, conducted 25 analysis with the APXS spectrometer and fired over 12,000 laser shots with the ChemCam instrument.
Image collage show Curiosty’s first bore hole drilled on Feb. 8, 2013 (Sol 182). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Marco Di Lorenzo/KenKremer (kenkremer.com)Curiosity’s First Sample Drilling hole is shown at the center of this image in a rock called “John Klein” on Feb. 8, 2013, or Sol 182 operations. The image was obtained by Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). The sample-collection hole is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep. The “mini drill” test hole near it is the same diameter, with a depth of 0.8 inch (2 centimeters). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Bruce McCandless testing out the ultimate jetpack during STS-41B in February 1984. Credit: NASA
The official name is “extra-vehicular activity,” (EVA) but most of us like to call it a spacewalk. However, when you think about it, you don’t really walk in space. You float.
Or more properly speaking, clutch on to handlebars as you make your way from spot to spot on your spacecraft as you race against the clock to finish your repair or whatever outdoor tasks you were assigned. But hey, the view more than makes up for the hard work.
Some astronauts actually got to fly during their time “outside.” During STS-41B 29 years ago this month, Bruce McCandless was the first one to strap on a jetpack and, in science fiction style, float a little distance away from the shuttle.
He called his test of the manned maneuvering unit “a heck of a big leap”. Nearly 30 years after the fact, it still looks like a gutsy move.
What other memorable floating NASA spacewalks have we seen during the space age? Here are some examples:
The first American one
Ed White did the first American spacewalk in 1965. Credit: NASA
The pictures for Ed White’s spacewalk on Gemini 4 still look amazing, nearly 48 years after the fact. The astronaut tumbled and spun during his 23-minute walk in space, and even tested out a small rocket gun until the gas ran out. When commander Jim McDivitt ordered him back inside, the astronaut said it was the saddest moment in his life.
The dancing-with-exhaustion one
Eugene Cernan during his spacewalk on Gemini 9. Credit: NASA
On Gemini 9, which took place the year after Gemini 4, Eugene Cernan was tasked with a spacewalk that was supposed to test out a backpack to let him move independently of the spacecraft.
Cernan, however, faced a lack of handholds and physical supports as he clambered outside towards the backpack. Putting it on took almost all the strength out of him, as he had nowhere to hold on to counterbalance himself.
“Lord, I was tired. My heart was motoring at about 155 beats per minute, I was sweating like a pig, the pickle was a pest, and I had yet to begin any real work,” Cernan wrote in his memoir, Last Man on the Moon, about the experience.
The situation worsened as his visor fogged up and Cernan struggled unsuccessfully to use the backpack. Cernan was so exhausted that he could barely get inside the spacecraft. “I was as weary as I had ever been in my life,” he wrote.
The three-astronauts-outside one
Three astronauts grab the Intelsat VI satellite during the STS-49 mission. Credit: NASA
Spacewalks traditionally (at least, in the shuttle and station era) happen in pairs, so that if one person runs into trouble there’s another to help him or her out. However, two astronauts working outside during STS-49 couldn’t get enough of a grip on the free-flying Intelsat VI satellite they were trying to fix. So NASA elected to do another spacewalk with a third man.
Pierre Thuot hung on the Canadarm while Richard Hieb and Thomas Akers attached their bodies to the payload bay. Having three men hanging on to the satellite provided enough purchase for the astronauts inside the shuttle to maneuver Endeavour to a spot where Intelsat VI could be attached to the payload bay.
The facing-electrical-shock one
Scott Parazynski repaired a damaged solar panel on the space station. Credit: NASA
In 2007, the astronauts of STS-120 unfolded a solar array on the International Space Station and saw — to everyone’s horror — that some panels were torn. Veteran spacewalker Scott Parazynski was dispatched to the rescue. He rode on the end of the Canadarm2, dangling above a live set of electrified panels, and carefully threaded in a repair.
In an interview with Parazynski that I did several years ago, I asked how he used his medical training while doing the repair. Parazynski quipped something along the lines of, “Well, the top thing in my mind was ‘First do no harm.’ ”
The International Space Station construction ones
Sunita Williams appears to touch the sun during this spacewalk on Expedition 35, which took place on the completed International Space Station. Credit: NASA
Spacewalks used to be something extra-special, something that only happened every missions or, on long-duration ones, maybe once. Building the International Space Station was different. The astronauts brought the pieces up in the shuttle and installed them themselves.
The station made spacewalking routine, or as routine such a dangerous endeavour can be. For that reason, an honorary mention goes to every mission that built the ISS.
What are your favorite EVAs? Feel free to add yours to the comments.
Canadarm pictured through a winow aboard the ISS will be used to grapple the SpaceX Dragon after planned March 1 liftoff. Credit: NASA/Thomas Mashburn
Wouldn’t you love to wake up to this gorgeous view of our home planet as a big hand waves a friendly good morning ?!
Well, having survived high speed wayward Asteroids and Meteors these past few days, the human crew circling Earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is game to snatch a flying Space Dragon before too long.
NASA will dispatch astronaut fun to orbit in the form of the privately built SpaceX Dragon in a tad less than two weeks time that the crew will ensnare with that robotic hand from Canada and join to the ISS.
On March 1 at 10:10 AM EST, a Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket is slated to blast off topped by the Dragon cargo vehicle on what will be only the 2nd commercial resupply mission ever to the ISS.
The flight, dubbed CRS-2, will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying about 1,200 pounds of vital supplies and science experiments for the six man international crew living aboard the million pound orbiting outpost.
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft stands inside processing hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Teams had just installed the spacecraft’s solar array fairings. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The ISS would plummet from the sky like a flaming, exploding meteor and disintegrate without periodic and critical cargo and fueling resupply flights from the ISS partner nations.
There will be some heightened anticipation for the March 1 SpaceX launch following the premature shutdown of a 1st stage Merlin engine during the last Falcon 9 launch in 2012.
The solar powered Dragon capsule will rendezvous with the ISS a day later on March 2, when NASA astronauts Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn will reach out with the Canadian built robotic marvel, grab the Dragon by the proverbial “tail” and attach it to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
The Dragon will remain docked to the ISS for about three weeks while the crew unloads all manner of supplies including food, water, clothing, spare parts and gear and new science experiments.
Then the astronauts will replace all that cargo load with numerous critical experiment samples they have stored during ongoing research activities, as well as no longer needed equipment and trash totaling about 2300 pounds, for the return trip to Earth and a Pacific Ocean splashdown set for March 25 – as things stand now.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before May 2012 blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on historic maiden private commercial launch to the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer/www.kenkremer.com
SpaceX is under contract to NASA to deliver about 44,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS during a dozen flights over the next few years at a cost of about $1.6 Billion.
SpaceX comprises one half of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program to replace the cargo up mass capability the US lost following the retirement of NASA’s space shuttle orbiters in 2011.
SpaceX also won a NASA contract to develop a manned version of the Dragon capsule and aims for the first crewed test flight in about 2 to 3 years – sometime during 2015 depending on the funding available from NASA.
The US is now totally dependent on the Russians to loft American astronauts to the ISS on their Soyuz capsules for at least the next 3 to 5 years directly as a result of the shuttle shutdown.
Along with SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corp also won a $1.9 Billion cargo resupply contract from NASA to deliver some 44,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS using the firm’s new Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule – launching 8 times from a newly constructed pad at NASA’s Wallops Island Facility in Virginia.
The maiden launch of Orbital’s Antares/Cygnus system has repeatedly been delayed – like SpaceX before them.
NASA hopes the first Antares/Cygnus demonstration test flight will now occur in March or April. However, the Antares 1st stage hot fire test scheduled for earlier this week on Feb. 13 had to be aborted at the last second due to a technical glitch caused by a low nitrogen purge pressurization.
For the SpaceX launch, NASA has invited 50 lucky social media users to apply for credentials for the March 1 launch
Watch for my upcoming SpaceX launch reports from the Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX launch facilities.
SpaceX technicians lift a solar array fairing prior to installation on the company’s Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft will launch on the upcoming SpaceX CRS-2 mission. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Progress 50 approaching the International Space Station on Feb. 11, 2013. Via NASA TV.
The Progress 50 resupply ship has now arrived at the International Space Station, just hours after it launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch took place at 9:41 a.m. EST, (14:40 UTC) today (February 11, 2013) and it took only a four-orbit journey to rendezvous with the ISS, docking at 3:34 pm EST (20:35 UTC).
“Progress 50 just docked to our Space Station!” Tweeted astronaut Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) “I was right at the hatch, it made a quick sliding scraping noise & then a solid thud. Success!”
This is third successful execution of the new, modified launch and docking profile for the Russion Progress ships, and its success is paving the way for its first use on a manned mission – possibly as early as March 2013 for Soyuz TMA-08, Roscosmos said via Facebook. Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka has been quoted as saying it is every cosmonaut’s dream to only have a 6-hour flight in the cramped Soyuz.
Watch the launch and docking video below:
Normally, Progress supply ships –and manned Soyuz capsules — are launched on trajectories that require about two days, or 34 orbits, to reach the ISS. The new fast-track trajectory has the rocket launching shortly after the ISS passes overhead — today, the space station was just 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) downrange from the launch site at the time of liftoff. Then additional firings of the Progress engines early in its mission expedites the time required for a Russian vehicle to reach the complex.
That also give the ISS crew the chance to actually see the launch from orbit. Today, NASA-TV commentator Kyle Herring said that ISS commander Kevin Ford reported he was able to see the first stage separation, which occurred about two minutes after launch. Herring said the cameras on the International Space Station were pointed to try and observe the launch. We’ll add any images here, if the cameras were able to capture anything.
Progress 50 is carrying 2.9 tons of supplies and equipment, including 800 kg (1,764 pounds) of space station propellant, 50 kg (110 lbs)of oxygen and air, 420 kg (926lbs) of water and 1,360 kg (3,000 lbs) of spare parts, science gear and other dry cargo. Right now, this Progress is scheduled to remain docked at the ISS until late April. The previous Progress cargo ship undocked from the Pirs module of the International Space Station at 13:15 GMT on Saturday February 9 and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, burning up during re-entry.
Earlier this month, NASA’s Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffradini said the space station partners have tentatively agreed to try a the fast-track trajectory with a manned mission “at least once or twice to show we have the capability in case we need to get to ISS quick for any reason.”
He added that the decision to fly like this long-term is still to be determined.
Rover self portrait MAHLI mosaic taken this week has Curiosity sitting on the flat rocks of the “John Klein” drilling target area within the Yellowknife Bay depression. Note gradual rise behind rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Marco Di Lorenzo/www.KenKremer.com.
Earth’s most advanced planetary robot ever has successfully bored into the interior of Martian rock and collected fresh samples in a historic first time feat in humankinds exploration of the cosmos.
NASA’sCuriosity drilled a circular hole about 0.63 inch (16 mm) wide and about 2.5 inches (64 mm) deep into a red slab of fine-grained sedimentary rock rife with hydrated mineral veins of calcium sulfate – and produced a slurry of grey tailings surrounding the hole. The team believes this area repeatedly experienced percolation of flowing liquid water eons ago when Mars was warmer and wetter – and potentially more hospitable to the possible evolution of life.
The precision drilling took place on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 on Sol 182 of the mission and images were just beamed back to Earth today, Saturday, Feb 9. The rover simultaneously celebrates 6 months on the Red Planet since the nail biting touchdown on Aug. 6, 2012 inside Gale Crater.
The entire rover team is overjoyed beyond compare after nearly a decade of painstakingly arduous efforts to design, assemble, launch and land the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover that culminated with history’s first ever drilling and sampling into a pristine alien rock on the surface of another planet in our Solar System.
“The most advanced planetary robot ever designed now is a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.
“This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America.”
Drilling goes to the heart of the mission. It is absolutely essential for collecting soil and rock samples to determine their chemical composition and searching for traces of organic molecules – the building blocks of life. The purpose is to elucidate whether Mars ever offered a habitable environment suitable for supporting Martian microbes, past pr present.
The high powered drill was the last of Curiosity’s 10 instruments still to be checked out and put into full operation.
Curiosity’s First Sample Drilling hole is seen in this image at a rock called “John Klein”. The drilling took place on Feb. 8, 2013, or Sol 182 of operations. Several preparatory activities with the drill preceded this operation, including a test that produced the shallower hole on the right two days earlier, but the deeper hole resulted from the first use of the drill for rock sample collection. The image was obtained by Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). The sample-collection hole is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep. The “mini drill” test hole near it is the same diameter, with a depth of 0.8 inch (2 centimeters). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The rover plunged the rotary-percussion drill located on the end of her 7 foot (2.1 m) robot arm into a flat outcrop of rocks named “John Klein”; where she is currently toiling away inside a shallow basin named Yellowknife Bay, and that witnessed many episodes of streaming water billions of years ago.
Ground controllers will now command the rover to pulverize and sieve the powdery rocky material through screens that will filter out any particles larger than six-thousandths of an inch (150 microns) across.
Thereafter comes the ultimate test – when the processed Martian powders are delivered by the robot arm to Curiosity’s miniaturized CheMin and SAM analytical labs though a trio of inlet ports located atop the rover deck for thorough analysis and scrutiny.
Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to take the images combined into this mosaic of the drill area, called “John Klein.” The label “Drill” indicates where the rover ultimately performed its first sample drilling. Shown on this mosaic are the four targets that were considered for drilling, all of which were analyzed by Curiosity’s instrument suite. At “Brock Inlier,” data from the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and images from the Mars Hand Lens imager (MAHLI) were collected. The target “Wernecke” was brushed by the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) with complementary APXS, MAHLI, and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) analyses. Target “Thundercloud” was the subject of the drill checkout test known as “percuss on rock.” The target Drill was interrogated by APXS, MAHLI and ChemCam. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“We commanded the first full-depth drilling, and we believe we have collected sufficient material from the rock to meet our objectives of hardware cleaning and sample drop-off,” said Avi Okon, drill cognizant engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena.
Rock tailings generated from the 5/8 inch (16 mm) wide drill bit traveled up narrow flutes on the bit and then inside the drill’s chambers for transfer to the process handling mechanisms on the arm’s tool turret.
“We’ll take the powder we acquired and swish it around to scrub the internal surfaces of the drill bit assembly,” said JPL’s Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer. “Then we’ll use the arm to transfer the powder out of the drill into the scoop, which will be our first chance to see the acquired sample.”
A portion of the material will first be used to scour and cleanse the labyrinth of processing chambers of trace contaminants possibly brought from Earth before launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida back in Nov. 2011.
Curiosity accomplished Historic 1st drilling into Martian rock at John Klein outcrop on Feb 8, 2013 (Sol 182), shown in this context mosaic view of the Yellowknife Bay basin taken on Jan. 26 (Sol 169) where the robot is currently working. The robotic arm is pressing down on the surface at John Klein outcrop of veined hydrated minerals – dramatically back dropped with her ultimate destination; Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)/Marco Di Lorenzo
The rock Curiosity drilled is called “John Klein” in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011.
Curiosity represents a quantum leap in capability beyond any prior landed mission on the Red Planet. The car sized 1 ton rover sports 10 state-of-the-art science instruments from the US and collaborators in Europe.
The 1 ton robot will continue working for several additional weeks investigating Yellowknife Bay and the Glenelg area – which lies at the junction of three different types of geologic terrain.
Thereafter, the six-wheeled mega rover will set off on a nearly year long trek to her main destination – the sedimentary layers of the lower reaches of the 3 mile (5 km) high mountain named Mount Sharp – some 6 miles (10 km) away.
What a hole on Mars ! Alien hole on an Alien Planet. Curiosity precisely bores to a depth of 2.5 inches (64 mm) into water altered rock. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSSide view of Curiosity’s Drill Bit Tip. The bit is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide. This view from the remote micro-imager of the ChemCam instrument merges three exposures taken by the camera at different focus settings to show more of the hardware in focus than would be seen in a single exposure. Images taken on Sol 172, Jan 29, 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS
