HSFNEWS Digest - 30 Jun 2012 to 3 Jul 2012 (#2012-67)

From: "[NASA REPORTS]" <list.admin@aus-city.com>

Date: July 3rd 2012

There are 4 messages totalling 230 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

NASA EXTENDS SYMPATHY TO POINDEXTER FAMILY ON DEATH OF FORMER ASTRONAUT
TRIO FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN
NASA'S ORION ARRIVES AT KENNEDY, WORK UNDERWAY FOR FIRST LAUNCH
VIRGINIA STUDENTS TO SPEAK LIVE WITH SPACE STATION RESIDENT

Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 16:54:38 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: NASA EXTENDS SYMPATHY TO POINDEXTER FAMILY ON DEATH OF FORMER ASTRONAUT

July 2, 2012

Jay Bolden Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100

Report #H12-228

NASA EXTENDS SYMPATHY TO POINDEXTER FAMILY ON DEATH OF FORMER ASTRONAUT

HOUSTON -- Former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander Alan "Dex" Poindexter died while on vacation with his family July 1 in Pensacola, Fla A veteran of two spaceflights, Poindexter spent a total of 28 days in space

Poindexter, a U S Navy captain, commanded the STS-131 space shuttle Discovery mission to the International Space Station in April 2010, delivering more than 13,000 pounds of hardware and equipment He was the pilot for shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission that delivered and installed the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory on the station in 2008

"Alan and I joined the astronaut corps in 1998 and flew together on STS-122, which was truly an incredible experience," said NASA Associate Administrator for Education and former astronaut Leland Melvin "He was a passionate, caring and selfless individual who will be missed by all "

"We in the astronaut family have lost not only a dear friend, but also a patriot of the United States," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston "He proudly served his country for 26 years as a fighter pilot, test pilot, astronaut and commander of a space shuttle I am proud to have both flown in space and worked with him for so many years Dex will be deeply missed by those of us at Johnson and the entire NASA family "

Poindexter earned an undergraduate degree with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and a graduate degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1998 and served in the Astronaut Office, Shuttle Operations Branch at Johnson as the lead support astronaut for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida He also served as a spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, for multiple missions

"Dex was a wonderful human being and a pleasure to have in the astronaut office," Janet Kavandi, fellow astronaut and Director of Flight Crew Operations said "His good-natured demeanor made him approachable to his crews and the many people at Johnson and Kennedy who enabled his missions "

Poindexter retired from NASA and the astronaut corps in 2010, and returned to serve in the United States Navy as Dean of Students at the Naval Postgraduate School

For Poindexter's complete biography, please visit:

http://www jsc nasa gov/Bios/htmlbios/poindexter html

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NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to listserv@listserver jsc nasa gov In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes) This will add the e-mail address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@listserver jsc nasa gov with the following command in the body of your e-mail message: "unsubscribe hsfnews" (no quotes) or from another account, besides the account used to subscribe: "unsubscribe hsfnews youremail@yourdomain com" (no quotes)

Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 16:58:32 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: TRIO FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN

July 01, 2012

Kelly Humphries Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #H12-222

TRIO FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN

HOUSTON -- Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, July 1, wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months

Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 3:14 a m CDT (2:14 p m local time) after undocking from the space station's Rassvet module at 11:47 p m June 30 The trio, which arrived at the station Dec 23, 2011, spent a total of 193 days in space, 191 of which were aboard the station

During their expedition, the crew supported more than 200 scientific investigations involving more than 400 researchers around the world The studies ranged from integrated investigations of the human cardiovascular and immune systems to fluid, flame and robotic research

Before leaving the station, Kononenko handed over command of Expedition 32 to the Russian Federal Space Agency's Gennady Padalka, who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will join them July 17 Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to launch July 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

On June 25, Pettit celebrated achieving one cumulative year in space, combining his time in orbit on Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31 and the STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour flight to the station in November 2008 Pettit now has 370 days in space, placing him fourth among U S space fliers for the longest time in space

During Expedition 31, Pettit also used household objects aboard the station to perform a variety of unusual physics experiments for the video series "Science Off the Sphere " Through these demonstrations, Pettit showed more than a million Internet viewers how space affects scientific principles

To watch "Science Off the Sphere" videos, visit:

http://www physicscentral com/sots

To follow Twitter updates from NASA's Expedition 31 and 32 astronauts, visit:

http://twitter com/Astro_Suni

https://twitter com/AstroAcaba

https://twitter com/Aki_Hoshide

For more information about Expedition 32 and the space station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

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Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 17:03:03 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: NASA'S ORION ARRIVES AT KENNEDY, WORK UNDERWAY FOR FIRST LAUNCH

July 02, 2012

Josh Byerly Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Amber Philman Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468

David Weaver/Trent Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600/0321

Report #H12-225

NASA'S ORION ARRIVES AT KENNEDY, WORK UNDERWAY FOR FIRST LAUNCH

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- More than 450 guests at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida welcomed the arrival of the agency's first space-bound Orion spacecraft Monday, marking a major milestone in the construction of the vehicle that will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before

"Orion's arrival at Kennedy is an important step in meeting the president's goal to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said "As NASA acquires services for delivery of cargo and crew to the International Space Station and other low-Earth destinations from private companies, NASA can concentrate its efforts on building America's next generation space exploration system to reach destinations for discovery in deep space Delivery of the first space-bound Orion, coupled with recent successes in commercial spaceflight, is proof this national strategy is working "

Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space

The space-bound Orion will launch on Exploration Flight Test-1, an uncrewed mission planned for 2014 The spacecraft will travel 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface, 15 times farther than the International Space Station's orbital position This is farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans t has gone in more than 40 years The primary flight objective is to understand Orion's heat shield performance at speeds generated during a return from deep space

In advance of the 2014 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla , a 400-person Orion production team at Kennedy will apply heat shielding thermal protection systems, avionics and other subsystems to the spacecraft Work also is underway by the Ground Systems Development and Operations team at Kennedy to modify and refurbish facilities used throughout the history of American spaceflight in preparation for the next generation of rockets and spacecraft This includes the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Control Center, launch pad, mobile launcher and crawler-transporter

"Work is under way on America's next great spacecraft that will surpass the boundaries within which humanity has been held," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington "In a facility that once processed cargo for space shuttles and various components for the International Space Station, hundreds of people at Kennedy are coupling advanced hardware assembly systems with a new human-rated spacecraft designed for deep space travel It is a fitting testament to the American work force at Kennedy that has enabled the exploration of space for 50 years is again working on hardware that will extend human presence throughout the solar system "

In 2017, Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar system

Across the country, progress is being made on multiple components and capabilities for Orion and SLS Orion has successfully completed numerous splashdown tests from a variety of angles and speeds, examining how the spacecraft will come to a rest on the ocean at the conclusion of deep space missions NASA also has conducted a series of parachute tests high above the Arizona desert, demonstrating how Orion will behave under its giant parachute canopy Software tests have been run between Mission Control Houston and an Orion mockup at Lockheed Martin's Exploration Development Laboratory, allowing flight controllers to learn how the spacecraft's onboard computers operate Work also continues to build and fine-tune Orion's launch abort system Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Orion

The J-2X upper-stage rocket engine, developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for the future two-stage SLS, is being tested at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi The prime contractor for the five-segment solid rocket boosters, ATK, has begun processing its first SLS hardware components in preparation for an initial qualification test in 2013 The SLS core stage, which will be designed and manufactured by Boeing, has just passed a major technical review and is moving from concept to early design Boeing has already delivered test bed flight computers to the program and flight software development is underway

The Orion crew module was built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Orion Program SLS is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is managed by Kennedy

For more information about the Orion Program, visit:

www nasa gov/orion

For more information on the Space Launch System, visit:

http://www nasa gov/sls

For more information about the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy, visit:

http://go nasa gov/groundsystems

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Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 17:06:05 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: VIRGINIA STUDENTS TO SPEAK LIVE WITH SPACE STATION RESIDENT

July 02, 2012

Rachel Kraft Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Sonja Alexander Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1761

Report #M12-122

VIRGINIA STUDENTS TO SPEAK LIVE WITH SPACE STATION RESIDENT

WASHINGTON -- More than 200 students will meet at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, Va , to speak with Expedition 32 flight engineer Joe Acaba aboard the International Space Station at 8:55 a m EDT, Thursday, July 5 Media representatives are invited to attend The question-and-answer discussion, coordinated by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va , and the museum, will be broadcast live on NASA Television and include video of Acaba The students, most of whom are Hispanic, will ask questions about life, work and research on the space station Several of the questions will be asked and answered in Spanish

To attend the event, reporters must contact Nancy Tait at ntait@smv org The museum is located at 2500 West Broad Street in Richmond Many of the students also are participating in other NASA programs, including camps associated with the agency's Summer of Innovation (SoI) project SoI provides hands-on learning opportunities for middle school students and educators through NASA-unique science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational activities during the summer school break

Acaba arrived at the space station with Russian Federal Space Agency's cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin on May 17 They will be joined later this month by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States and abroad to improve STEM teaching and learning It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program

The exact time of the downlink could change For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

http://www nasa gov/ntv

To follow Twitter updates from Acaba, visit:

http://twitter com/AstroAcaba

For information about NASA's education programs, visit:

http://www nasa gov/education

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

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End of HSFNEWS Digest - 30 Jun 2012 to 3 Jul 2012 (#2012-67)

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