“Here’s some of the stories trending This Week at NASA!”
Activities aboard the International Space Station during the first week in June included
continued operations with the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) – which was fully
expanded on May 28.
The follow-up work included equalizing BEAM’s internal pressure and conducting leak checks
to ensure its structural integrity.
The BEAM is a technology demonstration to study expandable habitats in space.
When it is safe to do so, NASA’s Jeff Williams will open the hatch and be the first to enter
the inflatable experimental habitat.
At more than 13 feet long and about 10.5 feet in diameter, the module adds about 565 cubic
feet of habitable volume to the station.
Meanwhile, the station crew talked with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on June 1,
during an Earth-to-space Facebook Live video call, seen on NASA’s Facebook page.
NASA astronauts Tim Kopra and Jeff Williams, and ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Tim
Peake, answered questions from Zuckerberg submitted by social media followers on NASA’s
Facebook page.
On May 31, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the upgraded dual RD-181 engines
of an Orbital ATK Antares rocket were fired at 100 percent power for 30 seconds as the
rocket sat at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad-0A.
The so-called hot fire test is a key milestone for Antares and Pad-0A – to demonstrate
the first stage of the rocket and the launch pad are ready for upcoming flights.
Antares and Pad-0A have not been used for a launch since a 2014 mishap.
Orbital ATK anticipates using Antares to launch a Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International
Space Station this summer.
Also on May 31, in Star City, Russia, NASA’s Kate Rubins and Expedition 48-49 crewmates,
Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency, participated in traditional ceremonial activities at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Center.
The trio is scheduled to launch June 24 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for
a four-month mission on the Station.
NASA’s Armstrong Fight Research Center, in Edwards, California hosted a “before
and after” demonstration, with F-18 aircraft, to compare the loud sonic booms we are familiar
with …
To a quieter, more community-friendly sonic “thump” …
NASA is working to make supersonic flight sound more like, with experimental aircraft
developed through the agency’s Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST).
Following the supersonic portion of the event, there were also discussions on efforts to
safely integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems, commonly called drones, into the National
Airspace System (UAS-NAS).
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California invited members of the media to
experience “Mixed Reality” – an environment created by using new JPL software combined
with a mixed-reality headset.
Mixed Reality enables virtual elements to be merged with a user's actual physical space
-- creating a world in which real and virtual objects can interact.
This technology can be used to study Mars from the comfort of Earth or examine the inner
workings of a spacecraft that hasn't even been built yet.
Ten new U.S. Postal Service “Forever” stamps feature some of the most iconic NASA
images in our solar system.
The new issue stamps, unveiled on May 31 at World Stamp Show-NY 2016, in New York, include
the well-known “Blue Marble” image of Earth, as part of the “Views of Our Planets”
collection.
Meanwhile, images of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft and the dwarf planet Pluto adorn
the faces of the two “Pluto Explored” Forever stamps, commemorating the July 2015
flyby of Pluto by New Horizons.
And that’s what’s up this week @NASA …
For more on these and other stories follow us on social media and visit www.nasa.gov/twan.