There are 2 messages totalling 103 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

1. NASA's Orion Spacecraft is Ready to Feel the Heat
2. Space Station Cargo Ship Departure to Air on NASA TV

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 08:59:53 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: NASA's Orion Spacecraft is Ready to Feel the Heat

June 5, 2014

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

Rachel Kraft Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

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

Report #RELEASE 14-168

NASA's Orion Spacecraft is Ready to Feel the Heat

Engineers completed installing the heat shield on NASA�s Orion spacecraft ahead of its first trip to space in December The flight test will send an uncrewed Orion 3,600 miles into space before returning it to Earth for the splashdown in the Pacific Ocean The heat shield will help protect the Orion crew vehicle from temperatures of about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit during its reentry into Earth�s atmosphere

Image Credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

NASA and Lockheed Martin engineers have installed the largest heat shield ever constructed on the crew module of the agency's Orion spacecraft The work marks a major milestone on the path toward the spacecraft's first launch in December

"It is extremely exciting to see the heat shield in place, ready to do its job," said Mark Geyer, Orion Program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston "The heat shield is such a critical piece, not just for this mission, but for our plans to send humans into deep space "

The heat shield is made of a coating called Avcoat, which burns away as it heats up in a process called ablation to prevent the transfer of extreme temperatures to the crew module The Avcoat is covered with a silver reflective tape that protects the material from the extreme cold temperatures of space

Orion�s flight test, or Exploration Flight Test-1, will provide engineers with data about the heat shield's ability to protect Orion and its future crews from the 4,000-degree heat of reentry and an ocean splashdown following the spacecraft�s 20,000-mph reentry from space

Data gathered during the flight will inform decisions about design improvements on the heat shield and other Orion systems, and authenticate existing computer models and new approaches to space systems design and development This process is critical to reducing overall risks and costs of future Orion missions -- missions that will include exploring an asteroid and Mars

Orion's flight test also will provide important data for the agency�s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ocean recovery of Orion Engineers at NASA�s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, have built an advanced adapter to connect Orion to the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket that will launch the spacecraft during the December test The adapter also will be used during future SLS missions NASA�s Ground Systems Development and Operations Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will recover the Orion crew module with the U S Navy after its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean

The heat shield was manufactured at Lockheed Martin's Waterton Facility near Denver Construction was completed at Textron Defense Systems near Boston before the heat shield was shipped to the Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy, where Orion is being assembled

In the coming months, the Orion crew and service modules will be joined and put through functional tests before the spacecraft is transported to Kennedy�s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility for fueling The spacecraft then will be transferred to the Launch Abort System (LAS) Facility to be connected to the LAS before making the journey to Cape Canaveral�s Space Launch Complex 37 for pad integration and launch operations

For more information on 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: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 16:17:08 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: Space Station Cargo Ship Departure to Air on NASA TV

June 5, 2014

Dan Huot Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Rachel Kraft Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #MEDIA ADVISORY M14-097

Space Station Cargo Ship Departure to Air on NASA TV

NASA Television will provide live coverage of the departure of an unpiloted Russian cargo vehicle from the International Space Station (ISS) beginning at 9 a m EDT Monday, June 9

The ISS Progress 53 cargo ship, which first arrived at the orbiting laboratory in late November 2013, will undock from the station�s Zvezda Service Module at 9:30 a m EDT

The cargo ship, loaded with trash from the space station, will move to a location well away from the station for an engine firing that will send the craft on a course to burn up upon reentry into Earth�s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean

The undocking will clear the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module for the arrival in August of the final European Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship, ATV-5 Named for the Belgian physicist and astronomer Georges Lemaitre, the ATV-5 is scheduled for launch from Kourou, French Guiana, on an Ariane 5 rocket in late July

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

http://www nasa gov/nasatv

For more about 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 - 5 Jun 2014 to 6 Jun 2014 (#2014-39)