TW@N for January 21, 2011
This Week at NASA…
Astronaut Steve Bowen will replace Tim Kopra on the next space shuttle mission. Kopra,
a mission specialist on STS-133, was injured
in a bicycle accident. Bowen began training this week
with the STS-133 crew, which includes Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe, and Mission
Specialists Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt and Nicole Stott.
Bowen also will train to perform the mission’s two planned spacewalks. A veteran flyer, Bowen
has walked in space five-times. His two new excursions will take place when he partners
with Drew to move a failed ammonia pump and perform
other external configurations to the International Space Station. STS-133 will
deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, an
external platform that holds large equipment and critical spare components for the station.
It will also deliver Robonaut 2, or R2, the first
human-like robot in space. The mission’s target
launch date is February 24.
On Valentine’s Day the Stardust spacecraft, which finished one history-making mission
five years ago, will now complete another, getting
up close and personal with the Comet Tempel 1.
You may recall that Comet Tempel 1, was deliberately smashed into in 2005 as part of the
Deep Impact mission to study the comet’s interior. Now Tempel 1 will be revisited by
the Stardust spacecraft for what is called the
Stardust-Next mission. At a news briefing held at
NASA Headquarters, Stardust scientists discussed the important landmark voyage.
“The last targeting maneuver, as we approach the comet, is two days out; that is the last
maneuver that will be fully designed to target to our 200 kilometer flyby distance and that
will be executed two days before we arrive at the
comet. Right after that maneuver, we will be
taking our last optical navigation images, and those are the images that we’ll use
to build our best prediction of our actual flyby point
and the path of the trajectory of the comet relative to
the spacecraft.”
This is the first-ever follow-up visit to a comet, and it will allow scientists to look
for changes on a comet's surface caused by a close flyby.
“All out major uncertainties and challenges, we’ve addressed all of them. So, I’m frankly,
very confident that we’re going to get a good
flyby and good images of the comet.”
On January 15, 2006, the Stardust spacecraft returned from a rendezvous with Comet Wild
2, and jettisoned its capsule containing particles
collected directly from the comet, as well as
interstellar dust.
Also at headquarters the agency's next Earth-observing satellite mission, Glory, was detailed at
another briefing held in the James Webb auditorium. Glory, scheduled to launch February 23,
will study the impact of the sun and airborne particles on Earth’s climate.
“This will serve as a resource for making scientifically-based economic, health, and
policy decisions related environmental change.”
Both programs were broadcast live on NASA Television and on the agency's website.
The American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics presented NASA’s Chief Technologist,
Bobby Braun, with the Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics award. Braun was recognized
for significantly advancing the understanding of the challenge of Mars entry, descent, and
landing, and for developing systems concepts and technologies enabling Martian exploration
programs.
The von Karman award, named for astronautics pioneer Theodore von Karman, is given
annually by the AIAA to an individual who has distinguished themselves technically in
the field of astronautics. The presentation was made
at the AIAA's 49th Aerospace Sciences Meeting in
Orlando.
“Martin Luther King was the most famous. He was the best known of all the modern movement
personalities. We should remember this was a people’s movement."
NASA helped commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a special
celebration at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Guest speaker was Dr. Julian Bond, former
chairman of the NAACP, and well-known civil rights leader and social activist.
“We can’t forget that Dr. King stood before and with thousands -- the people that made
that mighty movement what it was. From Jamestown
slave pens, to Montgomery’s boycotted buses, these ordinary women and men labored in obscurity
and from Montgomery forward they provided the foot soldier of the freedom army.”
Students from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the District of Columbia rounded
out the event with songs and dances selected for the
occasion.
“I think if Dr. King were here today, he’d be amazed that we’ve sent 20 black astronauts
into space and he’d be amazed that I had met
one of them just two days ago, Dr. Satcher, in
Nashville, by coincidence we happened to be together, and I think he’d just be overcome
at the notion that black Americans are doing things
that many Americans never thought anybody would every do and that is to go into space.”
Landing an ER-2, NASA’s civilian version of the high-altitude U-2S plane used by the
Air Force, can prove tricky. Its wings have glider-like qualities
that make the aircraft sensitive to crosswinds; ascent
and descent rates are fast and steep. Also, the ER pilot who may be confined by a pressure
suit for prolonged periods of time can find even normal
operations inside the ER-2 anything but.
“It’s hard for him to judge altitude with this particular aircraft and he has to actually
stall the aircraft on every landing so the plane has to be in
a full stall. Basically, I’m his co-pilot in a car.”
That's where NASA’s new Dodge Charger safety chase car comes in. The specially-designed
vehicle “charges” down the runway at high speeds
as the driver calls out data to the ER-2 pilot. Things like
distance in feet to the runway, taxing details and any other critical information to help
facilitate a smooth and safe landing.
“4-3-2-1 -- little right rudder, inches.”
The Air Force has a history of relying on chase vehicles for landing safety . Following
their lead, Dryden's Airborne Science program has leased
the government-owned Charger for five years and
managers say the car has added an extra value of safety to ER-2 flight operations.
Lifting off aboard its Titan-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 20,
1977, Voyager 2 was one of a pair of NASA spacecraft bound
to explore the planets and interplanetary environment of
the outer solar system. Its companion, Voyager 1, followed a month later. Eight-and-a-half
years after launch, on January 24, 1986, Voyager 2 made
a successful flyby of Uranus, returning about 8,000
images of the planet and its moons. Between them, Voyager 1 and 2 have explored all the
giant planets of our outer solar system, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; 48 of their moons; and the
unique system of rings and magnetic fields surrounding those planets. Decades, and many
billions of miles later, both Voyagers are continuing
their journeys to the boundaries of the solar system.
And that’s This Week@NASA.
For more on these and other stories log on to www.nasa.gov