There are 3 messages totalling 157 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

1. NASA, Space Station Partners Announce Future Crew Members
2. NASA Partner Orbital Sciences Completes First Flight to Space Station as Astronauts Capture Cygnus Spacecraft
3. Astronauts Chamitoff and Garan Depart NASA

Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 12:48:44 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: NASA, Space Station Partners Announce Future Crew Members

September 30, 2013

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

Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #13-305

NASA, Space Station Partners Announce Future Crew Members

NASA and its international partners have appointed future crew members for the International Space Station

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake are scheduled to launch in December 2015 and return to Earth in spring 2016 They will join the Expedition 45 crew members in orbit and will remain aboard as part of Expedition 46 with yearlong expedition Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko

This will be the second long-duration spaceflight for Kopra, a former U S Army helicopter pilot and graduate of the U S Military Academy Kopra was a flight engineer aboard the station during Expedition 20 in 2009 This will be the first spaceflight for Peake, a former British Army helicopter pilot and graduate of the Royal Military Academy

The Expedition 45 crew will be:

-- NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, station commander -- Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, flight engineer -- NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, flight engineer -- ESA astronaut Tim Peake, flight engineer

For complete astronaut biographical information, visit:

http://www nasa gov/astronauts

To follow Twitter updates from Kopra and Peake, visit:

http://twitter com/astro_tim

and

http://twitter com/astro_timpeake

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

To join the online conversation about the International Space Station and the men and women aboard, follow @NASA_Astronauts and the hashtag #ISS To learn more about all the ways to connect and collaborate with NASA, visit:

http://www nasa gov/connect

-end-

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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, 30 Sep 2013 11:58:11 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: NASA Partner Orbital Sciences Completes First Flight to Space Station as Astronauts Capture Cygnus Spacecraft

September 29, 2013

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

Trent J Perrotto Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100

Report #13-292

NASA Partner Orbital Sciences Completes First Flight to Space Station as Astronauts Capture Cygnus Spacecraft

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) used a robotic arm to capture and attach a Cygnus cargo resupply spacecraft Sunday, marking several spaceflight firsts for NASA and its partner, Orbital Sciences Corp of Dulles, Va

The station's Expedition 37 crew reported the spacecraft -- loaded with about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo -- berthed at 8:44 a m EDT, following an 11-day journey to the orbiting laboratory Orbital's Cygnus was launched on the company's Antares rocket on Sept 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA�s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia This was the first flight of a spacecraft to the space station from the state

The maiden flight of Cygnus included a number of systems tests prior to rendezvous with the station The cargo includes student experiments, food and clothing, which will be unloaded by the station crew following hatch opening Monday

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

After a series of tests designed to demonstrate Cygnus' ability to navigate, maneuver, lock on to the station and abort its approach, NASA cleared the spacecraft to approach the station Sunday morning European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg captured Cygnus with the station's robotic arm, then attached the capsule on the bottom of the station's Harmony node, completing installation by bolting the Cygnus to Harmony

The capsule will remain attached to Harmony until a planned unberthing on Oct 22 sends the spacecraft toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere

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 updated and tested a software patch to fix the issue 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 Wednesday

Orbital built and tested its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft under NASA�s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program The successful completion of this 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

NASA initiatives, such as COTS, are helping to develop a robust U S commercial space transportation industry with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from low-Earth orbit to meet the needs of both commercial and government customers NASA�s Commercial Crew Program also is working with commercial partners to enable the availability of U S commercial human spaceflight capabilities in the next few years

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth The space station has had continuous human occupation since November 2000 In that time it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars

For more information about the Orbital demonstration mission, visit:

http://www nasa gov/orbital

For more information 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)

Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:33:40 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: Astronauts Chamitoff and Garan Depart NASA

September 30, 2013

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

Report #13-304

Astronauts Chamitoff and Garan Depart NASA

NASA astronauts Gregory Chamitoff and Ronald Garan are leaving the agency Chamitoff is joining the faculty of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and the University of Sydney in Australia Garan will work on a range of new entrepreneurial and humanitarian efforts "Greg and Ron will certainly be missed by the Astronaut Office," said Bob Behnken, NASA's chief astronaut "Greg's passion for sharing the spaceflight experience will serve him well as he begins a new adventure in academia and continues to inspire the next generation of innovators and explorers I'll miss Ron both as a contributor to our office and as a classmate The entire office is grateful for their service to NASA " Chamitoff began his 18-year NASA career in 1995 as a space shuttle guidance and control officer in mission control at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston He was selected as an astronaut in 1998 He flew in space twice, in 2008 as a flight engineer and science officer for Expeditions 17 and 18 aboard the International Space Station, and as a mission specialist during STS-134 in 2011, the penultimate shuttle mission During his most recent mission, Chamitoff participated in two spacewalks to complete assembly of the International Space Station, taking part in the installation of the Alphamagnetic Spectrometer He has spent more than 198 days in space Garan, who joined the agency in 2000, is ending a 13-year NASA career that included more than 178 days in space and four spacewalks Garan flew in space twice, first in 2008 as a space shuttle Discovery mission specialist on STS-124, and again in 2011 aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expeditions 27 and 28 Garan retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 2009 after 25 years of service He has logged more than 5,000 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft types He recently served within NASA�s Open Government Initiative For Chamitoff's biography, visit: http://go nasa gov/gcruuu For Garan's biography, visit: http://go nasa gov/1998pSo For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www nasa gov -end-

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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 - 28 Sep 2013 to 1 Oct 2013 (#2013-86)