There are 2 messages totalling 116 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

1. High School 'Final Five' Compete for Out-of-This-World Test on Orion
2. NASA TV to Air Arrival of New Space Station Crew Thursday

Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:47:36 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: High School 'Final Five' Compete for Out-of-This-World Test on Orion

March 26, 2014

Brandi Dean Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Ann Marie Trotta Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1601

Report #RELEASE 14-093

High School 'Final Five' Compete for Out-of-This-World Test on Orion

Five teams of high school student engineers have made it to the final round in a competition to build and test designs for radiation shields for NASA's new Orion spacecraft

The competition is part of the Exploration Design Challenge (EDC), developed by NASA and Lockheed Martin, with support from the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA)

Forty-six teams submitted engineering notebooks with proposed radiation shield designs After review by Orion engineers, as well as NASA and NIA educators, the five teams selected to move on to the next phase of the competition are:

-- Team Titan Shielding Systems of Illinois Math and Science Academy, Aurora, Ill -- Team ARES of Governor's School for Science and Technology, Hampton, Va -- Team Aegis of Herriman High School, Herriman, Utah -- Team Erion of Erie High School, Erie, Kan -- Team LORE of Summit View High School, North Hollywood, Calif

The high school teams were asked to design shielding to protect a radiation detector on Orion as it flies through the Van Allen Belt, a dense radiation field that surrounds the Earth Because the belt begins 600 miles above Earth, no spacecraft built for humans has flown through it in more than 40 years Orion, which will travel to an altitude of about 3,600 miles on its first flight test, will spend a significant portion of its four-hour mission exposed to the effects of the Van Allen Belt

For the next phase of the competition, the final five teams will build prototypes of their designs, which will be tested by engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va , before the winning design is chosen

The winning team will be announced in April, and their design will be launched into space on Orion later this year This uncrewed mission, designated Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), will be the first spaceflight test of the capsule that will one day carry astronauts to an asteroid and Mars

NASA, the NIA and Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the Orion program, unveiled the Exploration Design Challenge on March 11, 2013, to give students from kindergarten through 12th grade the opportunity to play a unique role in the future of human spaceflight The challenge encourages students in the U S and abroad to think and act like scientists and engineers to overcome one of the major hurdles for deep space long-duration exploration: protecting astronauts and hardware from the dangers of space radiation

More than 125,000 students of all ages, from 81 countries around the world, have taken part in the challenge so far Although the deadline has passed to take part in the high school competition, students in grades K-12 still have until June 30 to participate in other Exploration Design Challenge activities to have their name flown on board Orion

To watch the announcement of the EDC high school finalists, visit:

http://new livestream com/viewnow/NASAEDC

For more information about the Exploration Design Challenge, visit:

http://www nasa gov/education/edc

For information about Orion, visit:

http://www nasa gov/orion

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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: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:57:41 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: NASA TV to Air Arrival of New Space Station Crew Thursday

March 26, 2014

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

Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #MEDIA ADVISORY M14-055

NASA TV to Air Arrival of New Space Station Crew Thursday

NASA Television will broadcast the arrival of three crew members to the International Space Station beginning at 7 p m EDT Thursday, March 27 Their Soyuz spacecraft will dock with the station at 7:58 p m Coverage will resume at 10:15 p m for hatch opening at 10:40 p m

Expedition 39 Flight Engineer Steven Swanson of NASA and Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:17 p m Tuesday (3:17 a m Wednesday in Baikonur)

Their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft did not complete a same-day rendezvous, as originally planned Engineers are reviewing data to determine why the third in a series of rendezvous maneuvers that were to be conducted Tuesday did not occur as scheduled, thereby delaying the space station rendezvous two days In conversations between flight controllers in Moscow and Houston, initial information indicates the spacecraft was not at the proper attitude, or orientation, for the automated thruster burn that puts the spacecraft in perfect position to dock with the space station

Russian flight controllers confirmed Wednesday that the Soyuz performed two rendezvous maneuvers required to put the spacecraft on the proper course for docking Thursday, and all systems on the Soyuz spacecraft appear to be functioning normally

Once the hatches are open, the three newest crew members will be greeted by Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Flight Engineers Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos

Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev will remain aboard the space station until mid-September Wakata, Mastracchio and Tyurin have been aboard the orbital outpost since November 2013 and will return to Earth May 14, at which time Swanson will take command of Expedition 40

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www nasa gov/nasatv

For b-roll and other media resources, visit:

http://www nasa gov/stationnews

For more information on the International Space Station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

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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)

End of HSFNEWS Digest - 26 Mar 2014 to 27 Mar 2014 (#2014-17)