Orbital Antares rocket at Wallops Island Pad. Credit: Orbital Sciences
Orbital Sciences Corporation has at last scheduled a critical engine test for the firm’s new commercially developed Antares medium class rocket for Feb. 12 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s (MARS) Pad-0A.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility will provide launch range support for the Antares rocket test which is a key milestone on the path to a flight that is crucial for eventual resupply of the International Space Station (ISS).
The window for the 29 second long engine test is 6-9 p.m EST. There will be no live broadcast or formal viewing of the test since it is only operational in nature.
For this hot fire test only the first stage of the Antares rocket will be rolled out to the launch pad – the first of its kind constructed in America in several decades.
The first stage of the Antares rocket stands on the pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. Credit: Orbital Sciences
During the test, the Antares’ dual AJ26 first stage rocket engines will generate a combined total thrust of 680,000 lbs. In a unique capability for its duration, the rocket will be held down on the pad and accounts for the huge water tower built nearby.
The goal of the hot fire test is a complete checkout of the rocket’s first stage and all the support systems at Pad-0A being utilized for the first time.
Antares is the launcher for Orbital’s unmanned commercial Cygnus cargo spacecraft that NASA’s hopes will further reestablish American resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) lost with the shuttle’s shutdown.
If successful, a full up test flight of the 131 foot tall Antares with a Cygnus mass simulator bolted on top is planned for the maiden launch in roughly 4 to 6 weeks later, perhaps by late March 2013.
Antares/Cygnus will provide a similar service to the Falcon 9/Dragon system developed by SpaceX Corporation – which has already docked twice to the ISS during historic linkups in 2012.
Both the Orbital and SpaceX systems were developed under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to replace the ISS cargo capability previously tasked to NASA Space Shuttle’s.
A docking demonstration mission to the ISS would follow later in 2013 which would be nearly identical in scope to the SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon demonstration flight successfully accomplished in May 2012.
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. Orbital hopes to duplicate the SpaceX feat in 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer
The Antares first stage is powered by a pair of Soviet era NK-33 engines built during the 1960 and 1970’s as part of Russia’s ill-fated N-1 manned moon program. The engines have since been upgraded and requalified by Aerojet Corp. and integrated into the Ukrainian built first stage rocket as AJ-26 engines.
Tens of millions of US East Coast residents in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions have never seen anything as powerful as an Antares rocket launch in their neighborhood.
“Antares is the biggest rocket ever launched from Wallops,” NASA Wallops spokesman Keith Koehler told me.
A composite image of NASA's space shuttle. Credit: NASA/Richard Silvera.
This fantastic — or perhaps fantastical — image of a space shuttle launching through the clouds has been getting a lot of comments on the social media circuits. But is it real?
No, it is a composite of two different images put together by photographer Richard Silvera.
“The picture of the sky and clouds was taken by me from an airplane,” Silvera wrote on his website, “and the shuttle is a picture from NASA. Then the assembly was done in Photoshop & Lightroom.”
While this is a beautiful image, as some have commented on the G+ Space Community, there are several tell-tail signatures that this image could never have been taken. The shuttle did not launch perfectly vertical (roll program starts shortly after launch, about 10 seconds after main engine ignition), and with the restrictions on aircraft being in the area during a launch, no one could have had this perspective and been so close as to take a picture like this.
However, here is a “real” image to compare, of Atlantis launching through the clouds, during the STS-129 mission in 2009:
Space shuttle Atlantis emerges through the clouds over Launch Pad 39A on a balmy Florida afternoon at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff on its STS-129 mission came at 2:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2009. Credit: NASA
Thanks to Richard Silvera for allowing UT to post his composite image. You can see more of his work on his website.
Jerry Ross peers into the orbiter crew cabin during the STS-37 mission, smiling because he manually extending the Gamma Ray Observatory’s antenna. Credit: NASA
If there was a frequent flyer program for astronauts, Jerry Ross would be a gold status member. Ross is a veteran of seven space shuttle missions, making him a co-record holder for most spaceflights with fellow former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, and with nine spacewalks, he has the second most EVAs by a NASA astronaut. He is one of only three astronauts to have served throughout the entire Space Shuttle Program. Ross has written a new book about his life and career as an astronaut, “Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer.” This is the first time he has told his story, reflecting on the legacy of the Shuttle program, its highs and lows, and the future of manned space flight.
Universe Today: What made you decide to write a book about your experiences?
Jerry Ross: I wanted to share my experiences of what it was like to suit up to go out on a spacewalk and also help people understand what it is like to be an astronaut, that we are regular people who do regular work most of the time and only get to fly in space once in a while. In addition I wanted to entertain a little, use some funny stories that I had told many times to my friends when we were down at the Cape waiting for a launch, and a lot of times people would say, ‘those are great stories, you ought to write a book.’ After more and more people said that I started to take it a little more seriously.
Additionally I wrote it for my granddaughters who were young enough while I was still flying in space to not remember much, and in fact the youngest one was born after I had completed my flying. But probably the most important reason is that throughout my astronaut career I made a point that while I was talking with young students about their lives and what they could do with their God-given talents and capabilities, that they should dream large, study hard and work hard to reach their goals and not give up too easily. Throughout many of my talks over the years at schools, I have used my own career as a way of pointing out to them that, yeah, you are going to have some setbacks, your life won’t go in a straight line. You’ll have to study hard and work hard but you don’t have to be a straight-A student. And don’t give up too easily on what your goals are. I am one of the very fortunate ones who was able realize very early in my life what I wanted to do. I was able to set those goals and was able to achieve them, and what happened in my life was so much better than I could have dreamed about!
Jerry Ross, frequent flying astronaut. Credit: NASA.
UT: You are obviously very dedicated to NASA. How does it feel to have the spaceflight records you have, and to have been a part the agency that is such an iconic part of America?
JR: The records are a byproduct of the what I said before; working hard and not giving up. I am and I was very dedicated to what our country was doing in space but I am somewhat frustrated that we are not doing more now. The records are quite frankly something that I wish I could have pushed much higher. I would have hoped to have flown many more times and done more spacewalks as well. Frankly, I’m disappointed that my records haven’t fallen and that those records aren’t continuing to be broken.
If we’re not continuing to push forward in space and do things more routinely and more aggressively, then as a country we are failing to be the leaders of the world that we should be in terms of leading humankind further into the Universe, learning more about the Universe and about ourselves, and potentially being able to live on other planets someday. While the records are nice — and it is kind of nice to put that in your bio that you hold the world record — it is not something that I hang onto, and like I said, I hope we will get back into a much more aggressive program that will push more people into space faster and farther.
Jerry Ross suits up for the STS-74 mission in 1995. Credit: NASA.
UT: Do you have a favorite mission or favorite moment that you cherish from all your spaceflights?
JR: That question is just like asking a mother which one of her seven children she likes best! Every one of my flights was unique and different. All of them were a lot of fun with great crews and great missions. If I had to pick one, it would probably be the first flight, just because it was my first. It was an exciting mission, a great crew and I got to go on my first spacewalk, which laid the foundation for even more spacewalks in the future. At the time I launched I was already assigned to another mission, so it was a great time in my career when I was still fairly young but was really starting to feel the success of all the hard work.
UT: What was the most unexpected thing or experience you had?
JR: I think the most unexpected thing — and I talk about it in the book — is the epiphany I had on my fourth spacewalk on my third space shuttle mission when I was high above the payload on a foot restraint on the end of the robotic arm. The rest of the crew was concentrating on working with (astronaut) Jay Asp who was doing some work in the payload bay. I had the chance to look into deep space. It was at night and I turned off my helmet-mounted lights and just looked at the Universe and the uncountable number of stars out there. And all of a sudden I had this sense come over me — it was totally unexpected, it wasn’t something I was thinking about or contemplating — but it was a sense that I was doing what God had intended me to do, being in space in a spacesuit, working to fix satellites and assemble things in space. What a reassurance that you picked the right path, and that you are doing exactly what you were intended to do!
For an engineer to have any feelings at all, and especially a feeling like that traveling at 5 miles a second above the Earth is pretty incredible.
UT: I really enjoyed the sidebar pieces in the book that were written by the people important in your life – your friend Jim, and your wife and children. How did you decide to include that, and did you have any trouble convincing them to be a part of the book?
JR: The book started out with John Norberg, my co-writer, coming down and doing a series of interviews with me and also with my family members and my best friend Jim Gentleman, and one of my two sisters in Indiana. Initially, John was going to write more of the book than it ended up being. It was a much more collaborative effort than I had anticipated. But those sidebars or insights from others was totally his idea and one that I entirely latched onto once we started writing. I think it is a great insight into the rest of the family and how we operated as a family. I’ve had this comment multiple times now from folks that these additional insights were especially enjoyable.
Jerry Ross works on the International Space Station during the STS-110 mission in 2002. Credit: NASA
UT: Your daughter Amy also works at NASA, and has helped to create better gloves for spacewalking. How gratifying is that to have her be a part of NASA?
JR: I think any parent is pleased if one of their children decides to follow in their footsteps. I guess that somehow validates that what the parent has been doing was something they valued and thought was interesting and exciting. Amy was exposed to it and was never encouraged one way or the other to be part of NASA or not, so it was very satisfying to see her do that. It was equally gratifying for me for my wife Karen to get into the space program working for United Space Alliance as one of the support contractors, and as you read in the book she helped supply the food for the shuttle and the station.
You also might be interested to know that Amy was interviewed for the astronaut program in January. For this selection process they had around 6,000 people who applied and they narrowed it down to about 400 that they deemed most qualified, and from that 400 they brought in 120, and she made that cut.
Amy Ross is an advanced space suit designer at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Image Credit: NASA.
They will further reduce the number down to about 50 that will be brought back in for a second round of additional interviews and screenings, mostly some fairly heavy medical testing, and then from that they will select about 10 or so in the middle of the year. So we are extremely excited for her and keeping our fingers crossed.
UT: You write in detail about the two shuttle accidents. How difficult were those two periods of time – both personally and for everyone in the astronaut office?
JR: It was a tremendous loss. The astronaut office is relatively small. At the time of those losses, we were in the neighborhood of about 100 people total, and you get to know folks pretty well. To have your friends doing what we all enjoyed and seeing them be lost and then learning that probably, had we been smarter or more diligent, we as an agency could have prevented both of those accidents. That is very hurtful.
You go through a lot of soul searching, especially after the Challenger accident when we were still very early in the shuttle program to lose a vehicle and friends that way. My family was still quite young and it makes you really do some soul searching about whether or not you should continue to do that and put your life and therefore your family at risk. We talked about it quite a bit as a family and fortunately we all agreed that it would be letting our friends down if we decided to pull out and go do something else.
Jerry Ross during the STS-110 mission in 2002, coming through one of the many hatches on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA.
UT: You mentioned this earlier, and you don’t mince words in the book about your disappointment with the direction NASA is going. Have your thoughts changed any about the SLS?
JR: No, I still think that the agency is wandering in the forest. Most of the direction that we are getting from Congress is the direction that reinstituted the SLS and is pushing Orion forward. The administration is really pushing the commercial space aspect, and it still makes me very nervous that the commercial space guys may not pan out. It makes me nervous that NASA won’t have more control and insight on what is going on with the vehicles, from both a safety and operational perspective. It makes me nervous that we are planning to rely up on them solely to get to and from low Earth orbit, when in fact if they have an accident either with one of our crews or theirs, it could precipitate a lawsuit, which might put them into bankruptcy. Where would we be then?
So there are lots of reasons why I don’t think this is the right answer. I totally agree with commercial space if they want to go spend their own nickel and go do things, that is fine. As a government agency I think we should provide all the help and assistance that we can, but at the same time I don’t think we should be diverting resources of NASA’s programs to be paying for theirs. And that is what we are doing right now.
If we had not stopped the Constellation program, we would be in the process of getting ready to go launch an Orion right now. So what we are doing is delaying progress for the nation and what is going to happen in respect to commercial space is not at all certain. I frankly do not see any business model that would keep any of those commercial systems operating without a great underwriting and usage by NASA. And so I don’t see the logic in what is going on.
UT: Your faith is obviously very important to you, and I recall the one line you wrote, that you find it impossible to believe that everything you saw from space was created without God. In some circles, it seems to be that it is either science or religion that the two are hard to mix. But you obviously have no problem mixing the two in your life.
JR: Absolutely. I have had no problems along those lines whatsoever. I think the problems come when people try to read too literally passages in the Bible, and to not to just accept God on faith. So, somehow I think people try to limit God by reading an exact passage in the Bible, in a certain kind of Bible, when in fact the passage would read quite differently depending on what kind of Bible you are reading.
UT: Is there anything else that you feel is important for people to know about your book or your experiences in general?
JR: I hope people will read the book and enjoy it, number one! Secondly I hope they will get a better understanding of what it takes to make a spaceflight happen. But probably the most important thing is that I hope that it might help young adults and school age children interested in science and engineering. But the main emphasis of the book is to set goals for yourself, study hard, work hard and don’t give up too easily.
UT: Jerry, its been an honor to talk with you! Thank you very much.
On this Day of Remembrance, February 1, 2013, NASA will mark the 10th anniversary of the STS-107 Columbia accident with a wreath-laying ceremony at the astronaut memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, paying tribute to the lost crews of Columbia, Challenger and Apollo 1, as well as other space explorers and NASA colleagues who have passed on. Most of us have our own personal memories of the tragic events that took the lives of these brave few who risked everything in the name of exploration, knowledge, and discovery, and I’ve agreed to share one person’s connection to the Columbia crew.
Laurel Nendza, a fellow space blogger over on that social media site that begins with F and rhymes with “acebook” has a particular connection with STS-107 Mission Specialist Laurel B. Clark… if only that they both love space and share the same first name. Still, it’s enough to hang one’s heart on, and Laurel (the blogger) recently posted a particularly touching note that was sent by Laurel (the astronaut) to her family just before Columbia headed back on its ill-fated return trip home. Here’s Laurel’s (and Laurel’s) story:
On February 1, 2003, the seven [STS-107] crew members were lost with the Space Shuttle Columbia over North Texas during the shuttle’s re-entry. They were brave men and women who gave their lives for space exploration.
One member has always stood out to me. Her name was Laurel Clark. She would probably agree that growing up there were never any other Laurels around. She may at one time hated her name like I did, only to realize she was actually cool and unique because she was the only one around with that name. But Laurel is not just a name, it’s a personality trait. I know a handful of Laurels (mostly from Facebook) and we all seem to have the same things in common. Most of us always have had deep compassion for animals, the Earth, and the sky above us. Laurel Clark was no different.
What was different about Laurel Clark is that she was just a handful of people on Earth, EVER, who actually achieved what we all dream. She was an astronaut and got to go to outer space. She had the privilege (that she worked very hard to get) to witness our pale blue dot from above as well as breathtaking auroras, lightning, and the Sun and Moon rising.
Before she departed to her last shuttle flight home she sent an email to her family and close friends. She told them of every incredible, awe-inspiring moment she had been a part of. She and the other 6 members who perished in the Columbia tragedy are true heroes and inspirations to all who came after her. They are my inspiration. My dream is to also be able to see my beautiful planet from above, and to see the stars shine bright in all their glory.
She was the first Laurel in space, who knows? Maybe one day I will be the next?
Rest in peace all the brave crew of the Shuttle Columbia.
Below is Laurel Clark’s last message to her loved ones on Earth:
“Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth. The perspective is truly awe-inspiring. This is a terrific mission and we are very busy doing science round the clock. Just getting a moment to type e-mail is precious so this will be short, and distributed to many who I know and love.
I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon with the cityglow of Australia below, the crescent moon setting over the limb of the Earth, the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn, rivers breaking through tall mountain passes, the scars of humanity, the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America, a crescent moon setting over the limb of our blue planet. Mount Fuji looks life a small bump from up here, but it does stand out as a very distinct landmark.
Magically, the very first day we flew over Lake Michigan and I saw Wind Point (Wisconsin) clearly. Haven’t been so lucky since. Every orbit we go over a slightly different part of the Earth. Of course, much of the time I’m working back in Spacehab and don’t see any of it. Whenever I do get to look out, it is glorious. Even the stars have a special brightness.
I have seen my ‘friend’ Orion several times. Taking photos of the earth is a real challenge, but a steep learning curve. I think I have finally gotten some beautiful shots the last 2 days. Keeping my fingers crossed that they’re in sharp focus.
My near vision has gotten a little worse up here so you may have seen pics/video of me wearing glasses. I feel blessed to be here representing our country and carrying out the research of scientists around the world. All of the experiments have accomplished most of their goals despite the inevitable hiccups that occur when such a complicated undertaking is undertaken. Some experiments have even done extra science. A few are finished and one is just getting started today.
Astronaut Laurel B. Clark, STS-107 mission specialist, conducting a check of the YSTRES experiment in the Biopack incubator. Astronaut Rick D. Husband, mission commander, holds a vacuum cleaner to perform general housekeeping duties on the middeck of the Space Shuttle Columbia. (NASA)
The food is great and I am feeling very comfortable in this new, totally different environment. It still takes a while to eat as gravity doesn’t help pull food down your oesophagus. It is also a constant challenge to stay adequately hydrated. Since our body fluids are shifted toward our heads our sense of thirst is almost non-existent.
Thanks to many of you who have supported me and my adventures throughout the years. This was definitely one to beat all. I hope you could feel the positive energy that beamed to the whole planet as we glided over our shared planet.
The STS-107 crew, waving to onlookers, exited the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Launch Pad 39A for liftoff on Jan. 16, 2003. Leading the way were Pilot William “Willie” McCool (left) and Commander Rick Husband (right). Following in the second row are Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla (left) and Laurel Clark; in the rear are Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, Payload Commander Michael Anderson and Mission Specialist David Brown. All seven perished during re-entry breakup two weeks later on Feb. 1, 2003. (NASA)
See more of Laurel Nendza’s posts on her Facebook page, Stellar Eyes.
At 10 a.m. EST on Feb. 1, NASA TV will provide live coverage of a wreath-laying ceremony at the Space Mirror Memorial located in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Flags across the agency will be flown at half-staff memory of the Columbia crew and all who have lost their lives in dedication of space exploration.
The Columbia crew. From the left: Mission Specialist David Brown, Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla and Michael Anderson, Pilot William McCool and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon. Credit: NASA.
Airing on PBS stations in the US tonight (January 31, 2013) a new film in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia disaster. Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope tells the little-known story of Columbia astronaut Ilan Ramon from Israel, the son of Holocaust survivors who became Israel’s first astronaut. Ramon carried into space a miniature Torah scroll that had survived the horrors of the Holocaust, given to a boy in a secret bar mitzvah observed in the pre-dawn hours in the notorious Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen.
“Moving tributes like this film remind us all that spaceflight always carries great risk,” said NASA Administrator and four-time space shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden. “But fallen heroes like Ilan were willing to risk the ultimate sacrifice to make important science discoveries and push the envelope of human achievement.”
See the trailer, below:
The film premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST (check local listings here) on PBS stations. It will be followed by an encore broadcast of NOVA “Space Shuttle Disaster” at 10:00 p.m. EST, which examines the causes of the tragedy.
Most PBS specials are rebroadcast and are usually available later on the internet, and so check your local listings if you missed it, and we’ll also post a link if/when this film becomes available online.
The crew of Challenger, lost on January 28, 1986. Credit: NASA.
Today is the 27th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. On January 28, 1986, mission STS-51-L ended in tragedy when a O-ring failure in one of the solid rocket boosters allowed hot combustion gases to leak from the side of the booster and burn through the external fuel tank, causing an explosion exploded 73 seconds after takeoff, killing the crew and destroying the shuttle.
On board was a crew of seven. Here, we remember especially physicist Ronald E. McNair, who was the second African American to fly to space. This video is part of StoryCorps, a national oral history project, that you can hear on NPR (National Public Radio) in the US. StoryCorps records the stories of people — usually everyday people — and archive them at the Library of Congress. But this story is about someone famous; someone who kept his eyes on the stars and dreamed big dreams. McNair also few on the STS-41-B mission in 1984. Ron McNair’s brother, Carl, tells the story of how Ron was a kid with big dreams in Lake City, South Carolina.
Please take a few moments to remember the crew that lost their lives on that day:
– Francis R. Scobee – Mission Commander
– Michael J. Smith – Pilot
– Gregory B. Jarvis – Payload Specialist 1
– Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 2
– Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 1
– Ellison S. Onizuka – Mission Specialist 2
– Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3
Video caption: Preview of Mars Curiosity Parade Float. Jim Green, Director of the Science Mission Directorate Planetary Systems Division at NASA Headquarters, describes the replica of the Mars Curiosity Rover on the second NASA float in Monday’s (Jan 21, 2013) presidential inaugural parade. Parade photos below
Full scale models of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover and the Orion crew capsule are participating in the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade on Monday, Jan 21, 2013, in Washington, DC – representing NASA’s robotic and human spaceflight endeavors.
The fantastically successful Curiosity rover is discovering widespread evidence for the ancient flow of liquid water on Mars.
The Orion multi-purpose capsule will take our astronauts back to the Moon and farther into space than ever.
NASA is the ONLY federal agency asked to be in the inaugural parade and now Curiosity is leading the NASA group with Orion after Curiosity.
Update 530 PM EDT – NASA’s 2 floats just passed by a cheering and waving President Obama & VP Biden at the reviewing stand in front of the White House – prominently near the front of the parade. See float photos from the parade below
Walking alongside both floats are members of the Curiosity team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – including ‘Mohawk Guy’ – and several current and former astronauts.
The participating astronauts are Alvin Drew, Serena Aunon, Kate Rubins, Mike Massimino, Lee Morin and Kjell Lindgren, as well as Leland Melvin, NASA’s associate administrator for Education, and John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for Science.
The marching team for Curiosity includes Richard Cook-project manager (from JPL), Bobak Ferdowsi (otherwise known as ‘Mohawk Guy’)-flight director (from JPL), Dave Lavery – program executive (from NASA Headquarters) , Michael Meyer – program Scientist (from NASA Headquarters), Jennifer Trosper-mission manager (from JPL) and Ashwin Vasavada, Deputy Project Scientist (from JPL)
Image caption: Orion crew capsule float with NASA astronauts at the Presidential Inaugural parade on Jan 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: NASA
Image caption: Curiosity float with team members at the Presidential Inaugural parade on Jan 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: NASA
Be sure to check out NASA’s Flickr stream for many photos from the 2013 Inaugural Day festivities and parade – here and here
Image Caption: Dream Chaser commercial crew vehicle built by Sierra Nevada Corp docks at ISS
Commercial test pilots, not NASA astronauts, will fly the first crewed missions that NASA hopes will at last restore America’s capability to blast humans to Earth orbit from American soil – perhaps as early as 2015 – which was totally lost following the forced shuttle shutdown.
At a news briefing this week, NASA managers at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) said the agency is implementing a new way of doing business in human spaceflight and purposely wants private companies to assume the flight risk first with their crews before exposing NASA crews as a revolutionary new flight requirement. Both NASA and the companies strongly emphasized that there will be no shortcuts to flying safe.
A trio of American aerospace firms – Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp – are leading the charge to develop and launch the new commercially built human-rated spacecraft that will launch Americans to LEO atop American rockets from American bases.
The goal is to ensure the nation has safe, reliable and affordable crew transportation systems for low-Earth orbit (LEO) and International Space Station (ISS) missions around the middle of this decade.
The test launch schedule hinges completely on scarce Federal dollars from NASA for which there is no guarantee in the current tough fiscal environment.
The three companies are working with NASA in a public-private partnership using a combination of NASA seed money and company funds. Each company was awarded contracts under NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability Initiative, or CCiCap, program, the third in a series of contracts aimed at kick starting the development of the so-called private sector ‘space taxis’ to fly astronauts to and from the ISS.
Caption: Boeing CST-100 crew vehicle docks at the ISS
The combined value of NASA’s Phase 1 CCiCap contracts is about $1.1 Billion and runs through March 2014 said Ed Mango, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. Phase 2 contract awards will follow and eventually lead to the actual flight units after a down selection to one or more of the companies, depending on NASA’s approved budget.
Since the premature retirement of NASA’s shuttle fleet in 2011, US astronauts have been 100% reliant on the Russians to hitch a ride to the ISS – at a price tag of over $60 Million per seat. This is taking place while American aerospace workers sit on the unemployment line and American expertise and billions of dollars of hi-tech space hardware rots away or sits idly by with each passing day.
Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp seek to go where no private company has gone before – to low Earth orbit with their private sector manned spacecraft. And representatives from all three told reporters they are all eager to move forward.
All three commercial vehicles – the Boeing CST-100; SpaceX Dragon and Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser – are designed to carry a crew of up to 7 astronauts and remain docked at the ISS for more than 6 months.
“For well over a year now, since Atlantis [flew the last space shuttle mission], the United States of America no longer has the capability to launch people into space. And that’s something that we are not happy about,” said Garrett Reisman, a former space shuttle astronaut who is now the SpaceX Commercial Crew project manager leading their development effort. “We’re very proud to be part of the group that’s going to do something about that and get Americans back into space.”
Caption: Blastoff of SpaceX Cargo Dragon atop Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May, 22, 2012, bound for the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer
“We are the emotional successors to the shuttle,” said Mark Sirangelo, Sierra Nevada Corp. vice president and SNC Space Systems chairman. “Our target was to repatriate that industry back to the United States, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Sierra Nevada is developing the winged Dream Chaser, a mini-shuttle that launches atop an Atlas V rocket and lands on a runway like the shuttle. Boeing and SpaceX are building capsules that will launch atop Atlas V and Falcon 9 rockets, respectively, and then land by parachute like the Russian Soyuz capsule.
SpaceX appears to be leading the pack using a man-rated version of their Dragon capsule which has already docked twice to the ISS on critical cargo delivery missions during 2012. From the start, the SpaceX Dragon was built to meet the specification ratings requirements for a human crew.
Caption: Dragon spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on May 25, 2012 for grapple and berthing . Photo: NASA
Reisman said the first manned Dragon test flight with SpaceX test pilots could be launched in mid 2015. A flight to the ISS could take place by late 2015. Leading up to that in April 2014, SpaceX is planning to carry out an unmanned in-flight abort test to simulate and test a worst case scenario “at the worst possible moment.”
Boeing is aiming for an initial three day orbital test flight of their CST-100 capsule during 2016, said John Mulholland, the Boeing Commercial Programs Space Exploration vice president and program manager. Mulholland added that Chris Ferguson, the commander of the final shuttle flight by Atlantis, is leading the flight test effort.
Boeing has leased one of NASA’s Orbiter Processing Facility hangers (OPF-3) at KSC. Mulholland told me that Boeing will ‘cut metal’ soon. “Our first piece of flight design hardware will be delivered to KSC and OPF-3 within 5 months.”
Caption: Boeing CST-100 capsule mock-up, interior view. Credit: Ken Kremer
Sierra Nevada plans to start atmospheric drop tests of an engineering test article of the Dream Chaser from a carrier aircraft in the next few months in an autonomous mode. The test article is a full sized vehicle.
“It’s not outfitted for orbital flight; it is outfitted for atmospheric flight tests,” Sirangelo told me. “The best analogy is it’s very similar to what NASA did in the shuttle program with the Enterprise, creating a vehicle that would allow it to do significant flights whose design then would filter into the final vehicle for orbital flight.”
Now to the issue of using commercial space test pilots in place of NASA astronauts on the initial test flights.
At the briefing, Reisman stated, “We were told that because this would be part of the development and prior to final certification that we were not allowed, legally, to use NASA astronauts to be part of that test pilot crew.”
So I asked NASA’s Ed Mango, “Why are NASA astronauts not allowed on the initial commercial test flights?”
Mango replied that NASA wants to implement the model adopted by the military wherein the commercial company assumes the initial risk before handing the airplanes to the government.
“We would like them to get to a point where they’re ready to put their crew on their vehicle at their risk,” said Mango. “And so it changes the dynamic a little bit. Normally under a contract, the contractor comes forward and says he’s ready to go fly but it’s a NASA individual that’s going to sit on the rocket, so it becomes a NASA risk.
“What we did is we flipped it around under iCAP. It’s not what we’re going to do long term under phase two, but we flipped it around under iCAP and said we want to know when you’re ready to fly your crew and put your people at risk. And that then becomes something that we’re able to evaluate.”
“In the end all our partners want to fly safe. They’re not going to take any shortcuts on flying safe,” he elaborated. “All of us have the same initiative and it doesn’t matter who’s sitting on top of the vehicle. It’s a person, and that person needs to fly safely and get back home to their families. That’s the mission of all our folks and our partners – to go back home and see their family.”
Given the nations fiscal difficulties and lack of bipartisan cooperation there is no guarantee that NASA will receive the budget it needs to keep the commercial crew program on track.
Indeed, the Obama Administrations budget request for commercial crew has been repeatedly slashed by the US Congress to only half the request in the past two years. These huge funding cuts have already forced a multi-year delay in the inaugural test flights and increased the time span that the US has no choice but to pay Russia to launch US astronauts to the ISS.
“The budget is going to be an extremely challenging topic, not only for this program but for all NASA programs,” said Phil McAlister, NASA Commercial Spaceflight Development director.
NASA is pursuing a dual track approach in reviving NASA’s human spaceflight program. The much larger Orion crew capsule is simultaneously being developed to launch atop the new SLS super rocket and carry astronauts back to the Moon by 2021 and then farther into deep space to Asteroids and one day hopefully Mars.
Image caption: Orion EFT-1 crew cabin construction ongoing inside the Structural Assembly Jig at the Operations and Checkout Building (O & C) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This is the inaugural space-bound Orion vehicle due to blastoff from Florida in September 2014 atop a Delta 4 Heavy rocket. Credit: Ken Kremer
NASA is thrusting forward and making steady progress toward launch of the first space-bound Orion crew capsule -designed to carry astronauts to deep space. The agency aims for a Florida blastoff of the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 mission (EFT-1) in September 2014 – some 20 months from now – NASA officials told Universe Today.
I recently toured the Orion spacecraft up close during an exclusive follow-up visit to check the work in progress inside the cavernous manufacturing assembly facility in the Operations and Checkout Building (O & C) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Vehicle assemblage is run under the auspices of prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation.
A lot of hardware built by contractors and subcontractors from all across the U.S. is now arriving at KSC and being integrated with the EFT-1 crew module (CM), said Jules Schneider, Orion Project manager for Lockheed Martin at KSC, during an interview with Universe Today beside the spacecraft at KSC.
“Everyone is very excited to be working on the Orion. We have a lot of work to do. It’s a marathon not a sprint to build and test the vehicle,” Schneider explained to me.
My last inspection of the Orion was at the official KSC unveiling ceremony on 2 July 2012 (see story here). The welded, bare bones olive green colored Orion shell had just arrived at KSC from NASA’s Michoud facility in New Orleans. Since then, Lockheed and United Space Alliance (USA) technicians have made significant progress outfitting the craft.
Workers were busily installing avionics, wiring, instrumentation and electrical components as the crew module was clamped in place inside the Structural Assembly Jig during my follow-up tour. The Jig has multiple degrees of freedom to move the capsule and ease assembly work.
“Since July and to the end of 2012 our primary focus is finishing the structural assembly of the crew module,” said Schneider.
“Simultaneously the service module structural assembly is also ongoing. That includes all the mechanical assembly inside and out on the primary structure and all the secondary structure including the bracketry. We are putting in the windows and gussets, installing the forward bay structure leading to the crew tunnel, and the aft end CM to SM mechanism components. We are also installing secondary structures like mounting brackets for subsystem components like avionics boxes and thruster pods as parts roll in here.”
Image caption: Window and bracket installation on the Orion EFT-1 crew module at KSC. Credit: Ken Kremer
“A major part of what we are doing right now is we are installing a lot of harnessing and test instrumentation including alot of strain gauges, accelerometers, thermocouples and other gauges to give us data, since that’s what this flight is all about – this is a test article for a test flight.
“There is a huge amount of electrical harnesses that have to be hooked up and installed and soldered to the different instruments. There is a lot of unique wiring for ground testing, flight testing and the harnesses that will be installed later along with the plumbing. We are still in a very early stage of assembly and it involves alot of very fine work,” Schneider elaborated. Ground test instrumentation and strain gauges are installed internally and externally to measure stress on the capsule.
Construction of the Orion service module is also moving along well inside the SM Assembly Jig at an adjacent work station. The SM engines will be mass simulators, not functional for the test flight.
Image caption: Orion EFT-1 crew cabin and full scale mural showing Orion Crew Module atop Servivce Module inside the O & C Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer
The European Space Agency (ESA) has been assigned the task of building the fully functional SM to be launched in 2017 on NASA’s new SLS rocket on a test flight to the moon and back.
Although Orion’s construction is proceeding apace, there was a significant issue during recent proof pressure testing at the O & C when the vehicle sustained three cracks in the aft bulkhead of the lower half of the Orion pressure vessel.
“The cracks did not penetrate the pressure vessel skin, and the structure was holding pressure after the anomaly occurred,” Brandi Dean, a NASA Public Affairs Officer told me. “The failure occurred at 21.6 psi. Full proof is 23.7 psi.”
“A team composed of Lockheed Martin and NASA engineers have removed the components that sustained the cracks and are developing options for repair work. Portions of the cracked surface were removed and evaluated, letting the team eliminate problems such as material contamination, manufacturing issues and preexisting defects from the fault tree. The cracks are in three adjacent, radial ribs of this integrally machined, aluminum bulkhead,” Dean stated.
Image caption: NASA graphic of 3 cracks discovered during recent proof pressure testing. Credit: NASA
The repairs will be subjected to rigorous testing to confirm their efficacy as part of the previously scheduled EFT-1 test regimen.
A great deal of work is planned over the next few months including a parachute drop test just completed this week and more parachute tests in February 2013. The heat shield skin and its skeleton are being manufactured at a Lockheed facility in Denver, Colorado and shipped to KSC. They are due to be attached in January 2013 using a specialized tool.
“In March 2013, we’ll power up the crew module at Kennedy for the first time,” said Dean.
Orion will soar to space atop a mammoth Delta IV Heavy booster rocket from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Construction and assembly of the triple barreled Delta IV Heavy is the pacing item upon which the launch date hinges, NASA officials informed me.
Following the forced retirement of NASA’s space shuttles, the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy is now the most powerful booster in the US arsenal and heretofore has been used to launch classified military satellites. Other than a specialized payload fairing built for Orion, the rocket will be virtually identical to the one that boosted a super secret U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spy satellite to orbit on June 29, 2012 (see my launch story here).
Orion will fly in an unmanned configuration during the EFT-1 test flight and orbit the Earth two times – reaching an altitude of 3,600 miles which is 15 times farther than the International Space Station’s orbital position. The primary objective is to test the performance of Orion’s heat shield at the high speeds and searing temperatures generated during a return from deep space like those last experienced in the 1970’s by the Apollo moon landing astronauts.
The EFT-1 flight is not the end of the road for this Orion capsule.
“Following the EFT-1 flight, the Orion capsule will be refurbished and reflown for the high altitude abort test, according to the current plan which could change depending on many factors including the budget,” explained Schneider.
“NASA will keep trying to do ‘cool’ stuff”, Bill Gerstenmaier, the NASA Associate Administrator for Human Space Flight, told me.
Stay tuned – Everything regarding human and robotic spaceflight depends on NASA’s precarious budget outlook !
Image caption: Orion EFT-1 crew cabin assemblage inside the Structural Assembly Jig at the Operations and Checkout Building (O & C) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC); Jules Schneider, Orion Project Manager for Lockheed Martin and Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer
Atlantis lifts off for the last time in July 2011, in this shot taken by the Chasing Atlantis team. (Melanie Godecki)
They didn’t reach their money goal, but the Chasing Atlantis team still sounds pretty pleased about the result: the independent movie-making team raised $5,610 to help with the final costs of production.
As previously reported in Universe Today, the Canadian team launched an Indiegogo campaign on Nov. 5 to raise up to $15,000 from people visiting the crowdsourcing site. Indiegogo allows teams to keep all funds donated, even if the goal is not reached.
“Thank you so much for all your support, contributions, and the belief in this film. Last night, at the conclusion of our 47-day Indiegogo campaign, we raised $5,610,” the team wrote on their official blog today (Dec. 18).
The project, which was entirely self-funded before this campaign, followed the last launch of space shuttle Atlantis in 2011. The movie will include appearances from Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Wil Wheaton as well as Chris Hadfield, who will launch to space on Expedition 34 tomorrow. He will be the first Canadian to command the International Space Station.
The team is en route to the Canadian Space Agency’s headquarters near Montreal, Quebec today for a fresh round of interviews; the agency is hosting a Hadfield launch party tomorrow. More announcements on the film’s progress will come in the next few months.
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