There are 2 messages totalling 110 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

1. RECORD-SETTING ASTRONAUT LOPEZ-ALEGRIA DEPARTS NASA
2. SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES OF MERCURY, SATURN HIGHLIGHT CONFERENCE

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:45:04 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: RECORD-SETTING ASTRONAUT LOPEZ-ALEGRIA DEPARTS NASA

Mar 12, 2012

Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Michael Curie Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #H12-077

RECORD-SETTING ASTRONAUT LOPEZ-ALEGRIA DEPARTS NASA

HOUSTON -- Michael Lopez-Alegria, NASA's most experienced spacewalker and the American holding the record for the single longest spaceflight mission, has left the agency

Lopez-Alegria flew on four missions and performed 10 spacewalks during his career He most recently served in the Flight Crew Operations Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston as assistant director for the International Space Station (ISS)

"Mike has faithfully served the Flight Crew Operations Directorate for many years," said Janet Kavandi, director of Flight Crew Operations at Johnson "His unique background and diplomatic skills have made him an outstanding FCOD assistant director for space station and lead for the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel Mike's tireless dedication to the safety and well-being of space station crews is well known We will miss him and wish him well in his future endeavors "

During his career, Lopez-Alegria logged more than 257 days in space, including 215 days as commander of the Expedition 14 mission to the ISS, which stands as the single longest spaceflight by an American Lopez-Alegria also logged more than 67 hours during his 10 spacewalks, more than any other American, and second only in the record books to Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev

"Mike has been a huge asset to the astronaut office during the course of his career," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at Johnson "His contributions in spacewalking, shuttle, space station and Soyuz operations are notable and very distinguished Personally, we will miss his humor and insights and wish him all the best "

Lopez-Alegria flew on three space shuttle missions The first, STS-73 in 1995, focused on science experiments He then served as NASA's director of operations at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, where he was in charge of American astronauts training for flights to the Russian space station Mir and the ISS Lopez-Alegria later flew on STS-92 in 2000 and STS-113 in 2002, delivering critical truss elements to the station

Expedition 14 Commander Lopez-Alegria and his crew launched to the ISS on a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept 18, 2006 This fourth and final mission earned Lopez-Alegria the spaceflight record The crew conducted a seven-month mission to operate, maintain, build and use the station and its science facilities During the expedition, two uncrewed Russian Progress cargo vehicles arrived and departed the station and a space shuttle assembly mission reconfigured the station's power supply Lopez-Alegria's mission ended with a Soyuz landing on the Kazakh steppe on April 21, 2007

For Lopez-Alegria's complete biography, visit:

http://www jsc nasa gov/Bios/htmlbios/lopez-al 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, 12 Mar 2012 13:48:59 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES OF MERCURY, SATURN HIGHLIGHT CONFERENCE

March 12, 2012

William Jeffs
Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

K�cia Mallette Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston 281-486-2183

Report #J12-005

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES OF MERCURY, SATURN HIGHLIGHT CONFERENCE

HOUSTON � NASA missions aiming to increase knowledge of our solar system and planning for future deep space missions will highlight the 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 19 to 23 The conference, open to media, will be held at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in The Woodlands, Texas

Conference presentations will cover discoveries and near-term plans of Dawn�s asteroid mission; firsthand access to new results from MESSENGER�s first year in orbit around Mercury; analyses of scientific data returned from Cassini�s exploration of the Saturn system; and a session on hydrological processes active on Earth, Mars and Saturn�s moon Titan

"Scientists attending this conference present and discuss results of research pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the processes, events and bodies that form our solar system," said Eileen Stansbery, director of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center

News media briefings on March 21 include members of the Dawn science team at 11:30 a m CDT and MESSENGER results at 12:30 p m

Dawn, part of NASA's Discovery Program of missions, was launched in 2007 to orbit the large asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres Dawn has been orbiting Vesta since July 2011 and mapping its surface Vesta is one of three extraterrestrial bodies from which we have known samples A session on Dawn will include a broad range of investigations into rock and mineral compositions cratering history and geologic formations

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) space probe is a robotic NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mercury The spacecraft was launched in August 2004 to study Mercury�s chemical composition, geology and magnetic field At the time of the conference, MESSENGER will have completed its primary orbital mission at Mercury, and the MESSENGER Extended Mission will have just begun One session will cover new findings from a year of imaging Mercury�s surface

A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, Cassini arrived at Saturn in June 2004 The mission is an intensive study of Saturn's rings, its moons and magnetosphere Cassini released the Huygens probe toward Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and the probe landed on the moon's surface in January 2005 After more than seven years of close study, the Cassini spacecraft still unveils new scientific discoveries

This year marks the 50th anniversary of nuclear-powered space probes, which began with launch of the Transit 4A satellite in June 1961 Nuclear power has been an enabling technology for the most ambitious planetary missions in history

In honor of this occasion, the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference will be held in conjunction with the Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS) meeting scheduled for March 21 to 23 The gatherings, including a joint plenary session on March 21, allow the planetary science community to learn more about the latest developments in nuclear power and propulsion

"Holding our conference in conjunction with the NETS meeting in celebration of 50 years of nuclear-powered spaceflight provides an opportunity for scientists and engineers to get together in discussing the needs, capabilities and opportunities for the future of deep space exploration," added Stansbery

The conference is presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) LPI is managed by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a national, nonprofit consortium of universities chartered in 1969 by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of NASA USRA operates programs and institutes focused on research and education in most of the disciplines engaged in space-related science and engineering Institutional membership in USRA now stands at 105 leading research universities

For more information about the conference including media registration, links to the program, media advisories and contact information, visit:

http://www lpi usra edu/meetings/lpsc2012/

For more information about LPI, visit:

http://www lpi usra edu

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www nasa gov

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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 - 10 Mar 2012 to 13 Mar 2012 (#2012-21)

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