This Week at NASA…
(nat) “Okay guys, let’s go!”
The first hatchlings from endangered sea turtle eggs at possible risk by the BP oil spill
were released into the Atlantic Ocean off the Kennedy Space Center on July 11.
(nat) “There they go. Yeah! That’s awesome.”
(nat) “This is the very first gulf coast nest from the BP Horizon oil spill.”
After their collection at a Florida Panhandle beach, the eggs of twenty-two Kemp’s ridley
turtles were brought to a secure, climate-controlled facility at Kennedy where the nest was monitored
until incubation was complete.
(nat) ““Tonight we’ll take the hatchlings and put them in here; we’ll reduce the amount
of sand cause it’s too heavy. We’ll put them in here and take them to the beach in
this.”
Federal and state agencies and conservationists hope to relocate and release over the next
several months about 700 sea turtle nests deposited on Gulf coast beaches in Florida
and Alabama.
“This means they survived the excavation process, they survived the trip across the
state of Florida, they made it into our facility, and they are doing what they normally would
do and this is just great.”
(nat)
The last external fuel tank scheduled to fly on a space shuttle mission arrived at the
Kennedy Space Center after a 900-mile journey from New Orleans to Florida. The tank designated
ET-138, will be mated to the orbiter Endeavour and two solid rocket boosters for STS-134.
(nat)
ET-138 is the 134th external fuel tank built by Michoud workers and delivered to the Space
Shuttle Program over a span of 37 years.
The STS-134 mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment and other hardware
to the International Space Station is targeted to launch from Kennedy on February 26.
A new satellite, about the size of a loaf of bread, is being readied for launch. NASA’s
Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses, or O/OREOS, will launch into orbit aboard
a Minotaur IV rocket from Kodiak Island, Alaska, as part of a mission to demonstrate and conduct
low-cost science experiments on nanosatellites. It’s the first cubesat, or miniature autonomous
satellite, to carry two distinct science experiments simultaneously. One will test how microorganisms
survive and adapt to the stresses of space; the other will monitor organic molecule stability
in space. Nanosatellites can reduce costs and, with multiple payloads, increase the
frequency of research missions in space. O/OREOS is scheduled to launch no earlier than September
1.
Former Star Trek star and avid NASA supporter, Nichelle Nichols, took of a tour of the Johnson
Space Center as part of the Traveling Space Museum, or TSM, project. TSM partners with
schools to promote space studies and provide mentoring to underserved students in the STEM
disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math. Accompanying Nichols was 11-year-old
Imanee Magee, whose family was displaced from its east New Orleans home by hurricane Katrina;
after relocating to the Houston area, they were sent packing again, this time by hurricane
Rita. Through it all, Imanee, who’s now back with her family in New Orleans, has remained
an outstanding elementary school student.
(nat visit up)
Since her “Star Trek” days, Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura, has maintained a special
relationship with NASA. In the 1970s, she was instrumental in recruiting minority astronauts
to the agency.
An animated lunar complex, complete with a botanical hothouse, and the moon expressed
in graphite and color pencil with an original soundtrack
(music up)
-- just two of the visionary, award-winning entries in this year’s Life and Work on
the Moon Art and Design Contest. More than 200 international students submitted work
depicting imaginative lunar lifestyles using various artistic media.
Dalton Mills, a student at Central High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin took the overall prize
of $1,000 for his video and animation entry, "Moonshot."
(nat of “Moonshot”)
Mills says he was Inspired by NASA documentaries, other artists, and science and physics classes.
Mitchell Peterson of Sheridan College in Sheridan, Wyo., won the college division with his piece
"Beyond the Atmosphere." And Brennan Barrington, a student at Licking Heights High School in
Pataskala, Texas, came out on top in the high school division for "Helium 3," his short
story inspired by a Jack London work. The winning artwork will be digitally displayed
in NASA centers and museums around the country.
To view this year’s winning entries, visit: http://artcontest.cet.edu
It was 1975, the year two former spaceflight rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union,
forged the first international space partnership. (launch up) “Five meters distance…three
meters.” On July 15, 1975, an Apollo spacecraft launched
from the Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Tom Stafford, Vance Brand and Deke Slayton.
Two days later, their capsule docked with a Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosomonauts,
Valeriy Kubasov and Alexei Leonov. Over a nine-day period, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
assessed the compatibility of rendezvous and docking systems of the American and Soviet
spacecraft. ASTP paved the way for the future joint US-Russian space ventures Shuttle-Mir
and today’s International Space Station. ASTP was the last Apollo mission and the last
manned U.S. space mission until the first shuttle flight in April, 1981.
And that’s This Week at NASA! For more on these and other stories log on
to: www.nasa.gov.