President Barack Obama called out for pizza today and ending up talking with the crews of STS-135 and Expedition 28 on the International Space Station. Well, that was his story anyway, but he did talk with the crews, offering a challenge for commercial space companies, as well as remembering the first flight of cooperation between the US and the Soviet Union – the Apollo-Soyuz test project which launched 36 years ago today — and reiterating the challenge of sending humans to Mars.
The STS-135 crew brought a flag that was flown on STS-1, the first shuttle mission, up to the ISS. “We’ll present the flag to the space station crew and it will hopefully maintain a position of honor until the next vehicle launched from US soil brings US astronauts up to dock with the space station,” STS-135 commander Chris Ferguson told the president.
NASA's All American Meal the astronauts will eat on July 14, 2011. Credit: NASA
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I’m just making out my shopping list for going to the grocery store tomorrow, and it includes everything I need to share a virtual dinner with the astronauts in space on Thursday, July 14. And no, unfortunately, I’m not launching to the ISS to join them. Food scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston thought it would be fun to give the crew an “All American Meal” — a typical American meal for the final mission of the shuttle and invite the public to join in by preparing the same food. Whatever you prepare it will be more aesthetically pleasing than the rehydrated food in plastic bags the shuttle and ISS crews will eat. Here’s the menu:
An appetizer of brie cheese, crackers and sausage; your choice of grilled chicken (which the shuttle crew will eat) or beef brisket (which will be enjoyed by the ISS crew), Southwestern corn and baked beans. The ISS crew will have beef brisket instead of chicken, but will enjoy the same side dishes as the shuttle crew. Desert for both crews consists of apple pie. The meal concludes with the quintessential American dessert, apple pie.
“Since the mission is in July, we thought it would be fun to have a typical summer meal often enjoyed in our backyards with friends and family,” said Michele Perchonok, NASA food scientist and manager of the shuttle food system.
For the special space recipes or “formulations” as they are called by NASA food scientists, plus more information, video and imagery, visit this NASA webpage.
The crackers, brie, sausage and apple pie are commercial off-the-shelf products repackaged for spaceflight. NASA food scientists prepared the chicken, brisket, corn and beans in a laboratory at Johnson before the mission.
NASA didn’t specify what time the astronauts will be eating their All American Meal, so you can eat at any time during the day and know you’re eating the same thing as the astronauts in space did. Well, pretty close to the same thing anyway. Hopefully those of us sitting on Earth don’t have to rehydrate our food and eat out of plastic bags.
With space shuttle Atlantis docked to the space station for the STS-135 mission, the final EVA of the shuttle era took place on July 12, 2011. Here, Ron Garan is secured on a restraint on the space station remote manipulator system's robotic arm or Canadarm2, carrying a faulty pump module will be retuned to Earth by the shuttle. Credit: NASA
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It’s the end of an era: the final spacewalk during the space shuttle era was conducted by astronauts on July 12, 2011 during the final shuttle mission, STS-135. This is the 160th spacewalk supporting assembly and maintenance of the space station and the 249th EVA conducted by U.S. astronauts. The two spacwalkers were actually from the International Space Station crew, Expedition 28’s Mike Fossum and Ron Garan, but were assisted by the shuttle crew. Shuttle Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus operated operate the station’s 58-foot-long Canadarm 2 to maneuver the spacewalkers around during the spacewalk.
Here are more images from the EVA:
Astronaut Ron Garan egresses the Quest airlock on the International Space Station as he prepares to join crewmate Mike Fossum for the spacewalk. Credit: NASA
Mike Fossum works outside the ISS during the six and a half hour spacewalk, the final of the shuttle era. Credit: NASA.No, this isn't a picture of an astronaut carrying a freezer outside the space station. With his feet secured on a restraint on the space station remote manipulator system's robotic arm Canadarm2, Mike Fossum holds the Robotics Refueling Mission payload, an experiment which will test in-flight refueling with the DEXTRE robot. Fossum and Ron Garan installed the experiment during the July 12 EVA. Credit: NASASuspended in a very unique position on the end of Canadarm2, Mike Fossum takes a picture during a July 12 spacewalk. Credit: NASASpace shuttle Atlantis makes a cameo in this image as Mike Fossum takes a picture during the spacewalk while on a foot restraint on the Canadarm 2. Credit: NASARon Garan during the spacewalk: "I almost had 1 foot in day and 1 foot in night Orbital sunset," said Garan via Twitter of this picture. Credit: NASAA view of the Cupola on the ISS, and if you look closely, you can see faces of several of the Atlantis STS-135 and Expediton 28 crewmembers looking out the windows. Credit: NASAAnother view of Mike Fossum during the spacewalk. Credit: NASAA close-up view of Mike Fossum during the final EVA of the shuttle era. Credit: NASAWith his feet secured on a restraint on Canadarm2, Mike Fossum holds the Robotics Refueling Mission payload. The failed pump module is with DEXTRE in the upper left corner of the photo. The blue color on the space station module is a reflection from the blue of planet Earth. Credit: NASA"Knocking on the door to come back in from space after yesterday's spacewalk," said Ron Garan via Twitter. Credit: NASAFollowing the six-hour, 31-minute EVA, spacewalkers Ron Garan (top left) and Mike Fossum (top right), pose in the ISS’s Quest airlock with Chris Ferguson, STS-135 commander, Doug Hurley, pilot, and Rex Walheim, mission specialist. Credit: NASAHere’s how astronauts train for their EVAs, in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near NASA's Johnson Space Center. Here astronauts Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus (mostly obscured), are raised from the waters of the N as a spacewalk training session comes to a close. Divers were in the water to assist Magnus and Walheim in their rehearsal. Credit: NASA
Artist rendering of the VASIMR powered spacecraft heading to Mars. Credit: Ad Astra
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A next-generation plasma rocket being developed by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz called the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) has been touted as a way to get astronauts to Mars in weeks rather than months, as well as an innovative, cheap way to re-boost the International Space Station. But in a biting commentary posted on Space News and the Mars Society website, “Mars Direct” advocate Robert Zubrin calls VASIMR a “hoax” saying the engine “is neither revolutionary nor particularly promising. Rather, it is just another addition to the family of electric thrusters, which convert electric power to jet thrust, but are markedly inferior to the ones we already have,” adding, “There is thus no basis whatsoever for believing in the feasibility of Chang Diaz’s fantasy power system.”
The VASIMR uses plasma as a propellant. A gas is ionized using radio waves entering into a plasma state. As ions the plasma can be directed and accelerated by a magnetic field to create specific thrust. The purported advantage of the VASIMR lies in its ability to change from high impulse to low impulse thrust as needed, making it an ideal candidate for a mission beyond low Earth orbit.
Chang Diaz’ company, the Ad Astra Rocket Company successfully tested the VASIMR VX-200 plasma engine in 2009. It ran at 201 kilowatts in a vacuum chamber, passing the 200-kilowatt mark for the first time. “It’s the most powerful plasma rocket in the world right now,” said Chang-Diaz at the time. Ad Astra has signed a Space Act agreement with NASA to test a 200-kilowatt VASIMR engine on the International Space Station, reportedly in 2013.
The tests would provide periodic boosts to the space station, which gradually drops in altitude due to atmospheric drag. ISS boosts are currently provided by spacecraft with conventional thrusters, which consume about 7.5 tons of propellant per year. By cutting this amount down to 0.3 tons, Chang-Diaz estimates that VASIMR could save NASA millions of dollars per year.
For the engine to enable trips to Mars in a reported 39 days, a 10- to 20-megawatt VASIMR engine ion engine would need to be coupled with nuclear power to dramatically shorten human transit times between planets.
Robert Zubrin. Credit: The Mars Society
Zubrin is the president of the Mars Society and author of the book “The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must.” He has long touted the “Mars Direct” approach of getting humans to Mars to create a sustainable human settlement. The plan includes a series of unmanned and human flights to Mars using existing technology, as well as “living off the land” on Mars by creating rocket fuel to return to Earth, and using underground reservoirs of water on Mars.
In his commentary on VASIMR, Zubrin says, “existing ion thrusters routinely achieve 70 percent efficiency and have operated successfully both on the test stand and in space for thousands of hours. In contrast, after 30 years of research, the VASIMR has only obtained about 50 percent efficiency in test stand burns of a few seconds’ duration.”
On the ‘39 days to Mars’ claim, Zubrin says VASIMR would need to couple with a nuclear reactor system with a power of 200,000 kilowatts and a power-to-mass ratio of 1,000 watts per kilogram, while the largest space nuclear reactor ever built, the Soviet Topaz, had a power of 10 kilowatts and a power-to-mass ratio of 10 watts per kilogram.
Zubrin has invited Chang Diaz to a formal public debate the VASIMR at a Mars Society convention in Dallas next month.
Read Zubrin’s commentary on Space News or the Mars Society website.
The final spacewalk of the shuttle era is taking place today, beginning at 8:22 a.m. EDT (12:22 UTC). You can watch it live on the viewer above. This is the 160th spacewalk supporting assembly and maintenance of the space station and the 249th EVA conducted by U.S. astronauts. The two spacwalkers are actually from the ISS crew, Expedition 28’s Mike Fossum and Ron Garan, but are being assisted by the shuttle crew. Shuttle Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus will operate the station’s 58-foot-long robotic arm to maneuver the spacewalkers around during the spacewalk. Continue reading “Watch Live: Final Spacewalk of Space Shuttle Program”
Cosmonauts gather to have some cognac on the Mir space station in 1997. The image was taken by NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger.
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Some new research may make NASA reconsider its “no alcohol in space” policy. A new study suggests that the “healthy” ingredient in red wine, resveratrol, may prevent the negative effects that weightlessness has on muscle and bone metabolism. This also could apply to people who live sedentary lifestyles.
The study had rats in the simulated the weightlessness of spaceflight, and the group that was fed resveratrol did not develop loss of bone mineral density or develop insulin resistance, as did those who were not fed resveratrol.
Weightlessness was simulated by hindlimb tail suspension, a common technique used to study weightlessness physiology. The control group that was not given resveratrol showed a decrease in soleus muscle mass and strength, the development of insulin resistance, and a loss of bone mineral density. The group receiving resveratrol showed none of these complications.
“There are overwhelming data showing that the human body needs physical activity, but for some of us, getting that activity isn’t easy,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the journal Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). “A low gravity environment makes it nearly impossible for astronauts. For the earthbound, barriers to physical activity are equally challenging, whether they be disease, injury, or a desk job. Resveratrol may not be a substitute for exercise, but it could slow deterioration until someone can get moving again.”
Of course, resveratrol can be taken in supplement form, but why spoil the fun? It is well known that Russian cosmonauts have imbibed in space, although probably not on the International Space Station. Alexander Lazutkin, who served aboard the Mir space station has said that Russian doctors recommended alcohol for “neutralizing the harmful effect of the atmosphere,” to keep cosmonauts “in tone” and to neutralize tension.
Weissmann added that red wine could become the “toast of the Milky Way.”
A view of the ISS from a Soyuz spacecraft while space shuttle Endeavour was docked. Credit: NASA/ESA
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The six crewmembers on board the International Space Station were told to take shelter in the two Russian Soyuz spacecraft early Tuesday because Space Command predicted a piece of space junk could make a close approach to the station. Radar tracking indicated the debris would make its close pass at 8:08 a.m. EDT (12:08 UTC), coming within about 243 meters (800 feet) of the station and well within the “pizza box” -shaped area around the ISS, but when no impact was detected the crew was told they could reenter the station and resume normal operations.
NASA’s Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris Nicholas L. Johnson told Universe Today during a previous “conjuction” of space debris and the ISS that on average, close approaches to ISS occur about three times a month. An approach of debris is considered “close” only when it enters an imaginary “pizza box” shaped region around the station, measuring 0.75 kilometers above and below the station and 25 kilometers on each side( 2,460 feet above and below and 15.6 by 15.6 miles).
Johnson said that small pieces of debris have already collided with ISS on many occasions, but these debris to date have not affected the safety of the crew or the operation of the mission. “The dedicated debris shields on ISS can withstand particles as large as 1 cm in diameter,” he said.
The piece of space junk was detected too late for the station to perform an evasive maneuver, so the crew was told to “shelter in place” on the two Soyuz spacecrafts. The crew on board is commander Andrey Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyaev and Ronald Garan, who took shelter aboard the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft docked to the Poisk module, and Sergei Volkov, Michael Fossum and Furukawa who went on to the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module.
Are you enjoying the historic images of space shuttle Endeavour docked to the ISS? Here’s a wonderful new way to experience them. John Williams of Terrazoom and StarryCritters has created an amazing “zoomable” slide show of these images, which allows viewers to quickly zoom into whatever part of the picture you want to see close up. Want to take a good look at Endeavour’s heat tiles or examine a module of the ISS? Just choose a picture and slide the scale (between the plus and minus sign) at the bottom of the application to zoom in.
Thanks to John for sharing his “Zoomify” technology with Universe Today!
See the slideshow on Terrazoom for the option for a full screen version.
In an epitome of internationalism, an international crew of three new ISS crew members — NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa — launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft at 4:12 p.m. EDT (2:12 a.m. Wednesday, Baikonur time) beginning their two-day journey to the space station. They are expected to dock at the ISS 4:22 p.m. Thursday, June 9. Continue reading “Soyuz Launches With New “International” Space Station Crew”
What is it really like to live in space? ISS astronaut Ron Garan has been steadily communicating his experiences on board the space station since he arrived in April, with his Fragile Oasis blog, his Twitter feed and Twitpic account. Now he’s started a videoblog, to visually and verbally share even more of what it is like to live on the ISS for a long duration mission. His accompanying blog post also includes a transcript and some of the images he talks about.
