This Week at NASA…
This is a very exciting mission, it’s nice that we have this for the team to go and execute
for Atlantis’ last scheduled mission.
The teams have done a phenomenal job down here again, the vehicle is ready to go fly
is a true testament to the work the teams has done down here at the Cape
With a green light from NASA managers, space shuttle Atlantis and its six-member STS-132
crew is ready to fly May 14.
While Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael
Good, Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen continued preparations for their mission to the International
Space Station, shuttle technicians readied Atlantis for its scheduled twelve-day flight.
That included loading the orbiter with hypergolic propellants, chemicals that ignite when they
come in contact with each other. The propellants are used to help steer the shuttle in space.
Atlantis will deliver a cargo carrier with hardware and spare parts for the ISS, as well
as a Russian-built Mini Research Module-1, called Rassvet, or “dawn,” that’ll be
permanently attached to the station’s Zarya module.
Launch time on May 14 is 2:20 p.m. EDT.
– 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Launch, launch, launch
The first test of the fully integrated Launch Abort System for the Orion crew vehicle was
successfully completed at the White Sands Missile Range on May 6. The Pad Abort 1 test
is part of an ongoing mission to develop safer vehicles for human spaceflight applications.
“The performance was just absolutely astounding and we have a lot of relieved and very happy
people out there to see all of this hard work they’ve done come to fruition.”
“This is the first abort system the US has developed since Apollo, but it’s much more
advanced, it has more capability, advance technologies that will be of value to us in
the future.”
The information gathered through the test will help shape future emergency escape systems
for crews.
”Wow that went like clockwork”
Guenter Wendt, the first pad leader for NASA's manned space program, died at his home in
Merritt Island, Fla., following hospitalization for congestive heart failure and subsequent
stroke.
Born and educated in Berlin, Wendt became an American citizen in 1955. He worked at
Cape Canaveral as an engineer on missile projects for McDonnell Aircraft Corp, later overseeing
spacecraft on the launch pads and all personnel who had access to them in Mercury, Gemini
and Apollo programs.
“Essentially I was responsible for the spacecraft preparations for launch in other words when
a spacecraft hit the Cape the we had coordinate who wants to do what or who must do what from
the time it got here until we launched it.”
Wendt was the last man astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins saw before
launching to the moon.
“I wasn’t made to do repetitive jobs I always said look what you like to do then
find out what it takes to get the job and then convince the powers that be, that you
are the man, they need to do. So I always go after the job I liked to do and anything
new & fascinating was it”
Guenter Wendt was 85.
NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites continue to help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration keep an eye on the recent Gulf oil spill. NOAA is the lead agency on oil
spills, and periodically-captured imagery provided by the two NASA spacecraft are helping
supplement data needed to assess the extent of the accident.
The slick from the spill is expected to bring devastating economic loss to the Gulf Coast
region.
At the Dryden Flight Research Center, the newly-dubbed Full-scale Advanced Systems Testbed,
or FAST aircraft, has begun flights to demonstrate the workings of its Research Flight Control
System.
Inaudible radio chatter – “Left, Wheeeeeeeeee”
The demonstration flights are part of NASA's Integrated Resilient Aircraft Controls, or
IRAC project. Data from IRAC will be used to design and develop aviation systems better
enabled to safely fly and land damaged aircraft.
- “There’s a nice one for you!!
- We have explored deep craters we’ve climbed mountains, we survived rover killing dust
storms and several harsh cold winters and the adventure is still not over for these
two intrepid vehicles”.
The team that operates the NASA rovers already on Mars, Spirit and Opportunity, was honored
by the Space Ops Organization with its 2010 Award for Outstanding Achievement. The presentation
was made at the group’s annual conference held in Huntsville, Alabama.
My team, the team that has earned this goes to work on Mars every single day, I have the
great pleasure of being up here to except this award but it really is an award that
goes not only to the ten people listed on this certificate but the hundreds of people
that have contributed and continue to contribute on this really great project Thank you all
very much.”
The rovers landed on Mars in January 2004 for three-month long missions; instead, the
twins have lasted more than six years.
Also honored with the organization’s International Space Operations Exceptional Achievement Medal
was Gene Kranz, former Apollo Flight Director and head of Mission Operations at the Johnson
Space Center in Houston.
”We had a marvelous group of astronauts led by Deke Slayton and mission operations
led by Christopher Columbus Craft, and a spectacular team of contractors that supported us in the
process. So on behalf of all these folks, we thank you”
SpaceOps was founded in 1990 to foster continuous technical interchange on space mission operations
and ground data systems, and to promote and maintain an international community of experts
on space operations.
For the second consecutive year, the nasa.gov Website was honored with a People's Voice
award in the Government category by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in its
annual Webby Awards competition. JPL won the People's Voice Webby in the Science category
for climate.nasa.gov. And NASA Home & City 2.0 was selected as the Government Webby winner
by the organization’s panel of judges.
From better brakes and safer tires to heat-resistant paint and cleaner emissions, NASA's contributions
to the auto racing world – and drivers everywhere - were featured in the traveling exhibit:
"From Rockets to Race Cars" at Virginia’s Richmond International Raceway.
Highlights were a quarter-scale NASA Benefits Race Car and a Wheel Exhibit, which includes
a NASCAR tire, Shuttle tire, Lunar Rover tire, a Lunar Tweel (a non-pneumatic tire/wheel
combination) and a Spring Tire. Fans could see, touch and compare the wheels of yesterday,
today and tomorrow.
The Rockets to Race Car exhibit has a few more pit stops to make this spring, including
the Darlington Raceway, the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the Kentucky Speedway.
And that’s This Week at NASA!
For more on these and other stories, log on to: www.nasa.gov