There are 2 messages totalling 111 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

1. Updated Cygnus Rendezvous Date, NASA TV Coverage for Orbital Sciences' Demonstration Mission to International Space Station
2. Astronauts Practice Launching in NASA's New Orion Spacecraft

Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:46:47 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: Updated Cygnus Rendezvous Date, NASA TV Coverage for Orbital Sciences' Demonstration Mission to International Space Station

Sept 27, 2013

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

Trent J Perrotto Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #M13-157

Updated Cygnus Rendezvous Date, NASA TV Coverage for Orbital Sciences' Demonstration Mission to International Space Station

NASA and its International Space Station partners have approved a Sunday, Sept 29, target arrival of Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft on its demonstration cargo resupply mission to the space station

NASA Television coverage of the rendezvous will begin at 4:30 a m EDT and will continue through the capture and installation of the Cygnus spacecraft For the latest schedule for spacecraft capture and installation, as well as the post-berthing news conference, visit:

http://go nasa gov/19M65lk

Orbital Sciences Corp of Dulles, Va , launched the Cygnus spacecraft on the company's Antares rocket Sept 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA�s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia

International Space Station Expedition 37 crew members Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency will capture the spacecraft using the space station's robotic arm They then will install Cygnus on the bottom of the station's Harmony module

Cygnus will deliver about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including student experiments, food and clothing, to the space station Future Cygnus flights will ensure a robust national capability to deliver critical science research to orbit, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new science investigations to the only laboratory in microgravity

Cygnus had been scheduled for a rendezvous with the space station on Sept 22 Due to a data format mismatch, the first rendezvous attempt was postponed Orbital has since updated and tested a software patch Cygnus' arrival also was postponed pending the Sept 25 arrival of the Expedition 37 crew Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins of NASA and Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) arrived at the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft at 10:45 p m Wednesday

The updated Sunday rendezvous and approach will include originally planned tests to validate Cygnus' performance as it approaches the space station

Orbital built, and is testing, Cygnus under NASA�s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program The successful completion of the COTS demonstration mission will pave the way for Orbital to conduct eight planned cargo resupply flights to the space station through NASA�s $1 9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company

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

http://www nasa gov/nasatv

For more information about the mission and 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)

Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:44:01 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: Astronauts Practice Launching in NASA's New Orion Spacecraft

Sept 27, 2013

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

Rachel Kraft Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #H13-300

Astronauts Practice Launching in NASA's New Orion Spacecraft

For the first time, NASA astronauts are practicing a launch into space aboard the agency's Orion spacecraft, and provided feedback on the new capsule's cockpit design

In the ascent simulations, which took place over the course of two weeks at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston this month, astronauts rehearsed their roles during an eight-minute climb into space aboard Orion The rehearsals included procedures that would be required in the event of an emergency with the agency's new heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket, which is being designed to will carry Orion to low-Earth orbit on the first portion of its flights to deep space

Ten pairs of astronauts participated in two normal launch simulations and two launch-abort simulations inside an Orion mockup fitted with instrument panels and other equipment being designed for the actual capsule As the two-person crews made their way through a series of tasks, engineers took careful notes of every comment and question from the crew Their feedback will be considered in the process of fine-tuning the design and build requirements for the displays and controls

"Simulations like these provide valuable experience by giving astronauts and the operations team an early look at what going to deep space in Orion will be like," said astronaut Lee Morin, who has been working on the Orion displays as supervisor of Johnson's rapid prototyping laboratory "Rehearsing launch and ascent -- two of the most challenging parts of Orion's mission -- also gives us an opportunity to work toward optimizing how the crew interacts with the spacecraft "

Designing a spacecraft's cockpit to maximize simplicity and efficiency is not easy Each of NASA's space shuttles had 10 display screens, more than 1,200 switches, dials and gauges, and pages of procedures weighing hundreds of pounds on paper

By comparison, Orion, which is designed for deep-space exploration and autonomous or piloted rendezvous and docking, will have just three computer screens, each the size of a sheet of paper, which take advantage of information technology advancements made since the space shuttles were designed in the early 1970s

"It's very rewarding work, knowing the displays we are creating and testing now will be what future astronauts will be looking at as they rendezvous with an asteroid, orbit the moon, and even travel to Mars," Morin said "Getting this right is key to making Orion and other future vehicles safer and easier to use "

Orion's first crewed launch, Exploration Mission-2, is scheduled for 2021, when NASA plans to send two astronauts to an asteroid in lunar orbit Orion ultimately will allow us to go farther into space than ever before, including destinations such as Mars

NASA plans to make Orion's data and software available to the agency's commercial partners, who may adapt it for use in spacecraft that could transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station

For more information on the test and images, visit:

http://go nasa gov/1avlDw0

For more information on the Orion Program, 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)

End of HSFNEWS Digest - 26 Sep 2013 to 28 Sep 2013 (#2013-85)