Space Flight! [Codea Game Jam 2015 | Version: 1.0.0 Beta ]

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Space Flight! [Codea Game Jam 2015 | Version: 1.0.0 Beta ] - Video

Bell X-1 - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator
On October 14, 1947, the Bell X-1 became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. Piloted by U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, the X-1 reached a speed of 1127...

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Bell X-1 - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator - Video

PASADENA, Calif. NASA's Orion capsule, which the agency is developing to help get astronauts to Mars and other destinations in deep space, aced its first flight test on Dec. 5, 2014.

During that unmanned mission, known as Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), Orion orbited Earth twice and then came zooming back to our planet to test out the capsule's heat shield and other key technologies.

Space.com's Rod Pyle recently discussed EFT-1 here at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with Mark Geyer, the space agency's Orion program manager, and Mike Hawes, vice president and Orion program manager for aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, which built the spacecraft for NASA. [See amazing photos from Orion's first test flight]

Space.com: How does it feel to be headed back into deep space after all these years?

Hawes: I kind of choked up at the press conference after the flight. I started [my career] when the Apollo guys were still at JSC [Johnson Space Center] and learned from them, and now I finally felt like we had done this for our generation and for the other generations behind us something we hadn't done for 40 years It's a human spacecraft that's going much farther than we have gone in a long time.

Geyer: We now have the capability to go to those places again, but in different ways. You think about Apollo we only visited the equator of the moon. A very small part, and just the facing side. Orion enables missions to the rest of the moon, to asteroids and eventually to Mars. It's the piece that keeps the crew safe, gets them up and back.

Hawes: Some of the lunar science guys have done a plot where they put all of the Apollo traverses, even with the rovers. It's on the scale of the National Mall in D.C. and we didn't even explore the entire mall, so we have not "been there and done that."

Geyer: Orion opens the moon up, opens asteroids up. It opens [Mars' moons] Phobos [and] Deimos and eventually Mars. And the human element is key. [JPL's] robots are incredible machines. But remember: When we sent a scientist to the moon, at the end, the geologist could adapt very quickly to what he found. This human element will multiply our ability to learn from wherever we go. [NASA's 17 Apollo Moon Missions in Pictures]

Space.com: You learned a lot during and after EFT-1. Can you discuss some of the upcoming changes in Orion's heat-shield design?

Geyer: Yes. Like Apollo, we used Avcoat. The structure itself is like a composite sheet, and on that is a honeycomb. You fill that honeycomb with Avcoat, with a device like a caulking gun. The material has to be a certain consistency and the right temperature, and you cure it in an oven in segments. It must also be bubble-free, and that's part of the curing.

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What NASA Learned from Orion Space Capsule's 1st Test Flight

AIC 2015 Keynote: Space travel and exploration - a commercial reality?
With investment in commercial space flight one of the key areas of interest among wealthy individuals, and with the range of investment opportunities opening up for those who want to gain exposure...

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AIC 2015 Keynote: Space travel and exploration - a commercial reality? - Video

American astronaut Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko have blasted off on a mission to spend an entire year away from the Earth.

The trip is Nasas first attempt at a one-year space flight, anticipating Mars expeditions that would last two to three years.

Their Soyuz space capsule set off from Russias manned space launch facility on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 1.42am local time on Saturday and was to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) about six hours later after making four orbits of the planet.

Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of Russia was also aboard their Soyuz capsule. He is scheduled for the standard six-month tour of duty aboard the space station.

Kellys identical twin Mark, a retired astronaut, agreed to take part in many of the same medical experiments as his orbiting sibling to help scientists see how a body in space compares with its genetic double on Earth.

Kelly and Kornienko will remain on board until next March. During that time, they will undergo extensive medical experiments, and prepare the station for the anticipated 2017 arrival of new US commercial crew capsules. That means a series of spacewalks for the 51-year-old Kelly.

They also will oversee the comings and goings of numerous cargo ships, as well as other Russian-launched space crews.

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Trio blast off to space station

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan He's off the planet and on his way to the International Space Station.

Earlier today, I watched as my brother, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, and two Russian cosmonauts launched to space aboard a Soyuz rocket. They left from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, the oldest space launch facility in the world. They went from zero to 17,500 miles per hour in about 12 minutes.

After docking with the space station, opening the hatch, and floating out of their capsule and into the space station which is about the size of a four-bedroom house Scott will settle in for his yearlong mission.

Watching the launch from nearby and feeling the roar of the Soyuz's rocket engines, I thought of how the first manned American space flight lasted only 30 minutes. And now, we will have an American in space for a year. We have come a long way.

One thing that hasn't really changed over the history of our space program is what it feels like to launch on the back of a rocket. It feels like the hand of God has come down, grabbed you by the collar, and ripped you off the planet. It is quite the ride. You spend years training for it. and even then, as Scott likes to say, once those engines start, you know things "are about to get real."

The day of your launch I've had four of them you wake up knowing there are really two main possibilities for what you'll be doing at the end of the day: You'll either be dead, or you'll be floating in space, looking down on our beautiful planet.

So every time we safely launch people into space, it's a big deal. It represents the successful coming together of science, engineering, and the drive to explore. A huge number of committed individuals have to work together to support a singular event: accelerating people off the planet. It is a really challenging thing to do. And it is never, ever routine. After all, spaceflight is a pretty risky business.

But it is an important endeavor. The mission Scott is embarking on will push the limits of what Americans can do in space. To better understand how long-term space flight impacts humans, NASA is studying Scott and me while he's in space and I'm on Earth. Because we are identical twins, they have a unique opportunity to study how the human body changes in space. I get the easy job, and Scott gets the fun job.

Hopefully, this will advance our knowledge of what happens when people leave the planet for a long time and help pave the way for sending Americans beyond low-earth orbit. There are a lot of exciting destinations in the universe, some not too far away. This mission is another step toward them.

But spending a year in space is a really hard thing to do. Imagine where you were a year ago now imagine being at the space station for that entire time. Imagine going to your office and having to stay there for a year and not go outside once. That's what the next year will be like for Scott at the Space Station. But take it from me: The views are pretty good.

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Mark Kelly: My Twin Brother's Spending a Year in Space

Space Station Live: Aging in Space
NASA Commentator Lori Meggs at the Marshall Space Flight Center speaks with Dr. Susan Bailey of Colorado State University, the principal investigator of the new Telomeres study on the ISS....

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Space Station Live: Aging in Space - Video

Preparing to go to space for a year is no walk in the park. But with two years of training behind them, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko did, in fact, visit a park. They spent their last couple of weeks on Earth participating in traditions dating back to the very first human to leave the planet.

Kelly and Kornienko, together with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, are set to launch to the International Space Station on Friday (March 27) from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Central Asia. After a four-orbit, six-hour flight, they will take up residency on board the outpost, with Kelly and Kornienko beginning the space station's first yearlong mission. (Padalka will stay in space for the more typical six months.) You can watch live coverage of the yearlong mission today on Space.com.

Although their mission will mark a first, their path to launch included a traditional set of events steeped in Russian spaceflight history. [See photos of the one-year space mission]

Here is a list of some of the customs the two spacefarers have and are still to participate in:

On March 6, prior to departing the training center at Star City, located just outside of Moscow, Kelly, Kornienko and Padalka visited the office of the first person to fly in space, the late Yuri Gagarin, which has been preserved as part of the center's cosmonaut memorial museum. There, they sat at Gagarin's desk and, following tradition, signed a guest book that has been autographed by the crews that have preceded them to space.

On the same day, the three crewmates also visited Red Square in Moscow, where they laid red carnations at the Kremlin Wall where Gagarin and other Russian space icons are interred.

"It is a great tradition that the Russians have coming here and honoring the cosmonauts and other folks that worked in the space program," Kelly told a NASA interviewer. "It is really great to be a part of this."

After flying from Moscow to Baikonur on March 14, the trio took part in a traditional flag-raising ceremony, symbolizing the official start to the final stage of their prelaunch preparations. Kelly, together with his backup, NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, raised the American flag, while Kornienko and Padalka hoisted the Russian colors. The cosmonauts' backups, Alexei Ovchinin and Sergei Volkov, raised the flag of Kazakhstan.

A practical forest now stands in Baikonur, where 50 years ago one did not. This is thanks to a tradition dating back to Gagarin's launch. Each crewmember plants a tree in a grove located along the Avenue of the Cosmonauts. Gagarin's tree now stands tall, whereas the trees planted for Kelly, Kornienko and Padalka on March 21 were just saplings.

On March 23, the three took "ownership" of their spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-16M, during a customary handover ceremony between the crew and the team at Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia, the company that builds the capsules and boosters. The same event included an opportunity for Kelly, Kornienko and Padalka to climb into the Soyuz and check out their ride to orbit.

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Cosmic Traditions: One-Year Space Crew Marks Flight with ...

Astronaut Scott Kelly, left, and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko plan to spend more than 11 months aboard the International Space Station to collect data on the long-term physiological and psychological effects of the space environment. NASA

Shuttle veteran Scott Kelly first heard about NASA's plans to send an astronaut to the International Space Station for nearly a full year shortly after he completed his third space flight in 2011, a 159-day stay aboard the orbital lab complex.

The idea wasn't particularly attractive.

"At first, I'll be honest with you, I wasn't all that interested," he said. "I hadn't given it a whole lot of thought, and it was soon after I had gotten back from my last flight. So the difficulty of living and working in space for a long period of time was still kind of fresh in my mind."

But he thought about it. Then he thought some more.

Finally, after "mulling it over and talking about it with my family, friends, girlfriend, I decided the challenges that staying in space for a whole year presented were appealing to me, even considering the sacrifices you and your family are in for to do that kind of thing."

In November 2012, Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, veteran of a 176-day stay aboard the station in 2010, were assigned to what NASA bills as the "One-Year Mission." Now, after more than two years of training in the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan, they're finally ready to go.

Joined by Soyuz TMA-16M commander Gennady Padalka, one of Russia's most experienced cosmonauts, Kelly and Kornienko are scheduled for blastoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:42:57 p.m. EDT Friday (GMT-4; 1:43 a.m. Saturday local time), departing from the same launch pad used by Yuri Gagarin at the dawn of the space age more than 50 years ago.

If all goes well, the trio will dock at the space station's upper Poisk module around 9:36 p.m. after a four-orbit, six-hour rendezvous. Standing by to welcome them aboard will be Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts, cosmonaut Alexander Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

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Astronaut Scott Kelly braces for yearlong space flight

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is seen inside a Soyuz simulator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center on March 4 in Star City, Russia. Kelly, along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency, are scheduled for launch Friday aboard a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA/Bill Ingalls hide caption

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is seen inside a Soyuz simulator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center on March 4 in Star City, Russia. Kelly, along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency, are scheduled for launch Friday aboard a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Later today, a Russian rocket is scheduled to carry a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut to the International Space Station, where they will live for a full year, twice as long as people usually stay.

No American has remained in space longer than 215 days. Only a few people have ever gone on space trips lasting a year or more the longest was 437 days and they're all Russian cosmonauts. The last year-plus stay in space occurred nearly two decades ago.

What's more, NASA's upcoming mission offers scientists a unique opportunity to study the effect of spaceflight on the human body. That's because the astronaut making the trip, Scott Kelly, has an identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, who's a retired NASA astronaut.

Initially, NASA did not plan to compare the earthbound twin with the one on the long-duration space mission. But after Scott Kelly got this assignment, he went to a briefing to get ready for a press conference.

"And I asked the question, 'Hey if someone just asks ... will there be any comparative studies between you and your brother, how should I answer that?' " Scott Kelly recalls in a NASA video.

A few weeks later, he explained, a program scientist came back to him and said, "It actually looks like this might be something that the science community is interested in."

Over the next year, researchers will scrutinize the Kelly brothers in what NASA is calling the Twins Study. Ten separate investigations will look at space travel's effect on everything from gut bacteria to eyesight.

Christopher Mason, a geneticist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, will be searching for changes in gene activity. "The advantage of this study is that we will get a complete profile, I would even argue the most comprehensive molecular profile of a human being that's maybe ever been generated," says Mason. "And then, to boot, we'll get the comparison of someone on Earth who's the identical twin."

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NASA To Study A Twin In Space And His Brother On Earth

Preparing to go to space for a year is no walk in the park. But with two years of training behind them, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko did, in fact, visit a park. They spent their last couple of weeks on Earth participating in traditions dating back to the very first human to leave the planet.

Kelly and Kornienko, together with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, are set to launch to the International Space Station on Friday (March 27) from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Central Asia. After a four-orbit, six-hour flight, they will take up residency on board the outpost, with Kelly and Kornienko beginning the space station's first yearlong mission. (Padalka will stay in space for the more typical six months.) You can watch live coverage of the yearlong mission today on Space.com.

Although their mission will mark a first, their path to launch included a traditional set of events steeped in Russian spaceflight history. [See photos of the one-year space mission]

Here is a list of some of the customs the two spacefarers have and are still to participate in:

On March 6, prior to departing the training center at Star City, located just outside of Moscow, Kelly, Kornienko and Padalka visited the office of the first person to fly in space, the late Yuri Gagarin, which has been preserved as part of the center's cosmonaut memorial museum. There, they sat at Gagarin's desk and, following tradition, signed a guest book that has been autographed by the crews that have preceded them to space.

On the same day, the three crewmates also visited Red Square in Moscow, where they laid red carnations at the Kremlin Wall where Gagarin and other Russian space icons are interred.

"It is a great tradition that the Russians have coming here and honoring the cosmonauts and other folks that worked in the space program," Kelly told a NASA interviewer. "It is really great to be a part of this."

After flying from Moscow to Baikonur on March 14, the trio took part in a traditional flag-raising ceremony, symbolizing the official start to the final stage of their prelaunch preparations. Kelly, together with his backup, NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, raised the American flag, while Kornienko and Padalka hoisted the Russian colors. The cosmonauts' backups, Alexei Ovchinin and Sergei Volkov, raised the flag of Kazakhstan.

A practical forest now stands in Baikonur, where 50 years ago one did not. This is thanks to a tradition dating back to Gagarin's launch. Each crewmember plants a tree in a grove located along the Avenue of the Cosmonauts. Gagarin's tree now stands tall, whereas the trees planted for Kelly, Kornienko and Padalka on March 21 were just saplings.

On March 23, the three took "ownership" of their spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-16M, during a customary handover ceremony between the crew and the team at Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia, the company that builds the capsules and boosters. The same event included an opportunity for Kelly, Kornienko and Padalka to climb into the Soyuz and check out their ride to orbit.

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Cosmic Traditions: One-Year Space Crew Marks Flight with Russian Spaceflight Customs

Today, astronaut Scott Kelly will board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station. Hell spend a year in low-Earth orbit, in part as a lab rat in a study that looks at how his body responds to life in space. The cool part here is the control group: Scotts twin brother Mark, also an astronaut, is staying on Earth, making him a genetically matched basis for comparison. Its an intriguing experiment, but as far as human space travel goes, its no giant leap. Humans havent left low-Earth orbitjust a couple hundred miles above where youre sitting right nowsince 1972, when astronauts last walked on the moon.

Robots, though? Robots are having all the fun. Uncrewed spacecraft have ventured to almost every corner of the solar system, andat this very minuteare exploring alien worlds from asteroids and comets to planets and dwarf planets. Which makes it tempting to declare that space exploration should be the realm of robots, not humans. People are expensive, hard to maintain, and they can die. Who needs the grief?

Well, we do. The crewed space program and the robot space program are two different things with two different purposes. And we need them both.

Yes, when it comes to science, robots kick butt. Theyre tough, cheap, and no one besides sci-fi sentimentalists cares if they never come home. Everywhere you look in the solar system, a robot is there. Rosetta is orbiting a comet, waiting for the Philae lander to wake up. Dawn is at the icy dwarf planet Ceres, which might have a subsurface ocean. In a couple months, if all goes well, New Horizons will become the first human-made object to visit Pluto. Juno is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter next summer.

And those are only the recent missions. Cassini has been studying the Saturnian system for more than a decade, and a couple weeks ago found evidence that Saturns moon Enceladus has hydrothermal ventsa hot environment that could harbor life. The Curiosity rover continues to explore Mars, and its smaller predecessor, Opportunity, passed the 26-mile mark this past weeka marathon that took more than 11 years. Oh, and the Messenger spacecraft, launched in 2004, is wrapping up a mission at Mercury. The Voyager probes are in interstellar space. All these robots have sent invaluable data back home, teaching us about how the universe works. NASAs Mars rover Curiosity, Feb. 3, 2013. NASA The human space program, on the other hand, has never been about science. The driving force behind Apollothe pinnacle of the human space programwas to show up the Soviet Union. The Cold War is over; the human space program no longer has an existential purpose.

Which is why its struggling. How badly? After NASA retired the space shuttles in 2011, the agency was left without a way to get people into orbit. It became a space agency that couldnt get to space. Private companies like SpaceX, Orbital ATK, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada are all trying to fill the gap. But theyre still just doing what people did decades ago. Commercial space at this point with respect to human space flight is somewhat a sideshow, says John Logsdon, a space policy expert and historian at George Washington University. All thats happening is two firms, SpaceX and Boeing, are under contract to develop a taxi to take people to the space station. Other than that, theres a lot of talk.

But critically, while the human space program may not have an overarching mission, it does have a purpose. A 2014 report from the National Research Council cited the economy, science, education and inspiration, national security, andno kiddinghuman survival. We humans are perpetually in jeopardy if we stay on Earth, whether from nuclear war, climate apocalypse, or a good old-fashioned killer asteroid (a classic). If humanity is to survive, we have to spread out.

More than that, though, that NRC report also cited a shared destiny and aspiration to explore. Now, that might sound sort of flaky. Logsdon ranks the idea long with all the other clichs that one tends to spout when talking about the future of humanity. But even he wants people to boldly go. He remembers when men went to the moon. Knowing what was happening, knowing here there were true explorers going to a new placeit was about as exciting as you can get, Logsdon says. Its about inspiration, adventure, and pride in what we can accomplish together as a species. Astronaut Scott Kelly along with his brother, former Astronaut Mark Kelly at the Johnson Space Center, Jan.19, 2015. NASA Eventually humans will be able to do some exploring, too. We can do things robots still cant. The ability to react to surprises or to decisions that need to be made tacticallythats directly in the realm of the human endeavor, says Jim Bell, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University who has worked on every Mars rover mission. A person analyzing the Martian terrain could rely on experience and instinct; all a robot has is software and time-delayed commands.

And eventually, the two programs will reunify. NASAs Deep Space Network was the communications link for the Apollo missions, and now connects a bunch of interplanetary robot spacecraft with home. We wouldnt have healthy robotic exploration without the human exploration program, Bell says. The robots will eventually be scouts, finding the places where people can and should follow up.

By outsourcing its role in low-Earth orbit to the private sector, NASA can focus on deep space. It has started work on a new Orion spacecraft and the space launch system, the most powerful rocket ever built. Theyve even souped up the huge crawler transporters used to carry the rocket to the launch pad. This week, NASA announced a new missionusing a robotto pluck a rock off the surface of an asteroid, testing capabilities the agency says people will need on a trip to Mars. Were further along the path of making it happen than we ever have been, says Logsdon.

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Soon, Humans Will Follow Robots Into Deep Space

The Innovative Technology Partnerships Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center inGreenbelt, Maryland, announced the release of its core Flight System (cFS) Application Suite to the public. The cFS application suite is composed of 12 individual Command and Data Handling (C&DH) flight software applications that together create a reusable library of common C&DH functions.

The cFS application suite allows developers to rapidly configure and deploy a significant portion of the C&DH software system for new missions, test platforms and prototypes, resulting in reduced schedule and cost. The cFS framework takes advantage of a rich heritage of successful NASA Goddard flight software efforts and addresses the challenges of rapidly increasing software development costs and schedules due to constant changes and advancements in hardware. Flight software complexity is expected to increase dramatically in coming years and the cFS provides a means to manage the growth and accommodate changes in flight system designs.

The cFS is currently being used by the Core Observatory of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, launched onFeb. 27, 2014, from Tanegashima Space Center inJapan, and it has also been used by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field,California, on their most recent mission, the NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), which launchedSept. 6, 2013. Other centers such as NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center inHuntsville, Alabama, NASA's Glenn Research Center inCleveland, Ohio, and NASA's Johnson Space Center inHoustonare currently using the cFS as well.

The core Flight Executive (cFE) and the Operating System Abstraction Library (OSAL) are two cFS components previously released as open source. These two components provide a platform-independent application runtime environment. The 12 applications in this release provide C&DH functionality common to most spacecraft Flight Software (FSW) systems.

This means the current suite of cFS open source applications now provide a complete FSW system including a layered architecture with user-selectable and configurable features. These architectural features coupled with an implementation targeted for embedded software platforms makes the cFS suitable for reuse on any number of flight projects and/or embedded software systems at very significant cost savings. Each component in the system is a separate loadable file and are available to download free of cost at the links listed in the table.

The complete cFS software suite will fully support the cFS user community and future generations of cFS spacecraft platforms and configurations. The cFS community expects the number of reusable applications to continue to grow as the user community expands.

For more information on the core Flight Software System, please contact the NASA Goddard Innovative Technology Partnerships Office at 301-286-5810 or emailtechtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov

To learn what other NASA software programs are available for industry use, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Program's Software Catalog at:

http://software.nasa.gov

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NASA Goddard Releases Open Source Core Flight Software System Application Suite to Public

redOrbit Tours NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center - Part 1: Orion Heat Shield
On a tour of NASA #39;s Marshall Space Flight Center, redOrbit was given the opportunity to view the recently returned heat shield from the Orion spacecraft. Built to send humans farther than...

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redOrbit Tours NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center - Part 1: Orion Heat Shield - Video

TIME Science space Rocket Bound for Space Station Rolls Out in the Kazakh Steppes The Russian Soyuz that will carry Scott Kelly to space for a year has its coming-out party in the frigid pre-dawn

All activity stops in the vicinity of a Soyuz rocket after the dog walks. The dog will walk on a lot of occasions, but especially the day the rocket rolls out to the pad. The two kilometer (1.25 mi.) trip takes more than two hours to complete, with the rocket lying on a flat-bed rail car and the train chugging no faster than 5 km/h, (3 mph) making multiple stops along the way.

MORE: Watch the Trailer for TIMEs Unprecedented New Series: A Year In Space

At one point en route, the rail line crosses a road, and even on the locked-down, sealed-off grounds of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, that calls for special securitya bomb-sniffing dog to check the crossing when the train is still at least half a kilometer away. If youre on the wrong side of the track after that, youre out of luck. Nothing at all moves until the rocket crawls past, making its exceedingly slow way to the padpreparatory to making its exceedingly fast way to space a couple of days later.

Like everything else in the Russian space program, the rollout proceeds according to ritualdetermined by the needs of both the very breakable machines and the very superstitious people who build and fly them. Before dawn on March 25, the Soyuz set to carry astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Gennady Pedalka and Mikhail Kornienko to the International Space Stationwith Kelly and Kornienko scheduled to spend a year aloftemerged slowly from its hangar.

Factoring in the wind chill, it was 18 F (-8 C) in the Kazakh steppe, with the engine pulling the Soyuz the only thing anywhere emitting any heatand not much at that. The Soyuz emerges business end first, which is to say bottom end first, and thats a good way to meet it. It takes 20 engines bundled in five clusters to produce the thrust the rocket will need to muscle itself off the ground. The top of the rocket where the crew rides ride is the prettier endpainted white and decorated with a Russian flag and the Roscosmos logobut the men will never get to space in the first place without the fire the engines provide.

The route to the launch pad is lined by technicians, security officers and other personnel, including a Russian Orthodox priest, who will bless the rocket and the crew the following day. Amiko Kauderer, Kellys significant other, is here as well and while shes plenty inured to the idea of space flightthis will be Kellys fourth time aloftshe is as struck by the sheer physicality of the rocket as anyone else.

Isnt it gorgeous? she says. My guys got a hot ride.

The most prominent people not in attendance are the crewmen themselves, and thats not only because theyre in pre-flight medical quarantine. Its T-minus 64 hours, says astronaut Mike Fincke, who has himself launched twice from Baikonur and today is serving the traditional role of astronaut escort to a fellow astronauts familyin this case Kauderer and Kellys two daughters, Samantha, 20, and Charlotte, 11. The crew has a lot of other things to do, but its also part of the tradition and superstition for them to stay away. Its like not seeing the bride before the wedding.

When the Soyuz reaches the pad, it still must be stood upright, a process that was once called its erection, until everyone just got tired of the jokesespecially after the Americans began flying out of the old Soviet space port. Now the term is verticalizing.

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Rocket Bound for Space Station Rolls Out in the Kazakh Steppes

Wyoming Snowmelt 2013
Images from NASA/USGS Landsat satellites show the snow cover in Wyoming #39;s Fremont Lake Basin throughout 2013. NASA scientists have used Landsat data from 1972-2013 to determine that the ...

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Wyoming Snowmelt 2013 - Video

Sierra Nevada Corporations (SNC) Space Systems and the Houston Airport System (HAS) announce a new follow-on agreement to utilize Ellington Airports Spaceport as a future landing site for SNCs Uncrewed Dream Chaser spacecraft - SNCs solution for NASAs Cargo Resupply needs and other critical space operations.

Entering into this new agreement with HAS will lead to enabling all variants of the Dream Chaser spacecraft to land in Houston, offering the ability to return cargo and science to Houston directly from space, said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNCs Space Systems. Through this agreement, we want to promote broad awareness of the importance of utilizing low-Earth orbit as a source of research, science and the expansion of space flight that are critical to Houstons ongoing position as a Space City. Houston has earned its place at the forefront of space exploration with such institutes as NASAs Johnson Space Center, Rice Space University, the Texas Medical Center, the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and many other organizations.

The objectives of this new agreement include exploring the applications and opportunities between HAS and SNC utilizing the Uncrewed Dream Chaser spacecraft to serve the needs of government, science, research, consumer and commercial enterprise while also building awareness of the positive economic impact of the Ellington Airport/Spaceport to the state of Texas. The new agreement is in anticipation of HAS receiving its spaceport license approval for Ellington Airport.

The Houston Airport System is pleased to continue working with Sierra Nevada Corporation as a landing site for their Dream Chaser spacecraft, said Arturo Machuca, general manager, Ellington Airport. As we move into the final phase of receiving our spaceport license it is important that HAS work with private industry to ensure the sustainability of the Houston Spaceport. The Dream Chaser spacecraft, with its unique horizontal runway landing capability, low-g entry and use of non-toxic propulsion, makes it an ideal test bed for biomedical, pharmaceutical, cellular and genetic research payloads. Houston, a leader in space-based biomedical research, is eager to work with SNC to sustain and advance these research opportunities in low-Earth orbit, then gently return them directly to Houston for immediate unloading.

The Dream Chaser Cargo System is an autonomous system developed to provide cargo transportation services to the International Space Station (ISS). The Dream Chaser Cargo Systems is a mission variant of the Dream Chaser Space System that exceeds NASAs goals for cargo transportation to the ISS, including rapid return of critical science.

About Sierra Nevada Corporations Space Systems Sierra Nevada Corporations Space Systems business area based in Louisville, Colorado, designs and manufactures advanced spacecraft, space vehicles, rocket motors and spacecraft subsystems and components for the U.S. Government, commercial customers, as well as for the international market. SNCs Space Systems has more than 25 years of space heritage and has participated in over 400 successful space missions through the delivery of over 4,000 systems, subsystems and components. During its history, SNCs Space Systems has concluded over 70 programs for NASA and over 50 other clients. For more information about SNCs Space Systems visit http://www.sncspace.com and follow us at Facebook.com/SNCSpaceSystems and Twitter @SNCspacesystems.

About Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, is among the Worlds Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Space. Over the last 30 years, under the leadership of President Eren Ozmen and CEO Fatih Ozmen, SNC has become one of Americas fastest-growing private companies and the Top Woman-Owned Federal Contractor in the United States. With a workforce of over 3,000 personnel in 31 locations in 17 states and three locations in Europe, SNC has a reputation for rapid, innovative, and agile technology solutions in electronics, aerospace, avionics, space, propulsion, micro-satellite, aircraft, communications systems and solar energy.

SNC has six unique business areas that are dedicated to providing leading-edge solutions to its dynamic customer base. SNC has a proven track record of success spanning more than five decades. It is focused on providing its customers with the very best in diversified technologies and continues to focus its growth on the commercial sector through internal advancements in dual-use applications and outside acquisitions including the emerging markets of telemedicine, Cyber and net-centric operations.

For more information on SNC visit http://www.sncorp.com and follow us at Facebook/Sierra Nevada Corporation. Sierra Nevada Corporation and SNC are trademarks of Sierra Nevada Corporation.

Media Contact: SNCDreamChaser@sncorp.com or Betsy McDonald at 775-849-6435.

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Sierra Nevada Corporation and Houston Airport System Announce New Agreement

STATEMENT BY

MR. JEFFREY D. GRANT SECTOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER SPACE SYSTEMS NORTHROP GRUMMAN AEROSPACE SYSTEMS

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

HEARING ON JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE

FIRST SESSION, 114TH CONGRESS MARCH 24, 2015Statement by Jeffrey D. Grant, Sector Vice President and General Manager Space Systems, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

Before the Subcommittee on Space Committee on Science, Space, and Technology James Webb Space Telescope

Chairman Palazzo, Ranking Member Edwards, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today on behalf of the men and women of Northrop Grumman supporting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) next great observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Before I begin, I would like to thank the Committee for its leadership of our nation's civil space programs. Your steadfast support, especially with regards to JWST, is critical not only to our success, but to that of the nation's scientific and exploration programs.

I am honored to appear before you today with two NASA leaders, Associate Administrator Dr. John Grunsfeld and Dr. John Mather, Nobel Laureate and Senior Project Scientist for JWST, both leading this tremendous scientific achievement for our nation. JWST represents a technological challenge in support of a scientific objective beyond anything attempted before, and without NASA's leadership, specifically the Goddard Space Flight Center, this would simply not be possible. I am also honored to appear with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Cristina Chaplain, whose agency's oversight helps ensure the success of this program. As with any program, especially one this technologically complex, independent reviews are essential. We have, and will continue, to benefit from GAO's candid and straightforward assessments. I appreciate the relationship we have developed and maintained during the course of this program.

I also need to recognize NASA's international partners on this effort, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, who are providing key scientific instruments and the launch vehicle for JWST, and the invaluable contributions of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which serves as the Science and Operations Center for the mission. It is truly the dedication of thousands, who are contributing to the success of the mission.

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Hearing on Webb Space Telescope: Statement by Jeffrey Grant

Gemini 3 50th anniversary: The first American space flight with two astronauts. March 23, 1965
From British/Path Reel News: America Makes `double Space History #39; AKA U S Double Space Success 1965. NASA INFO: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1965-024A John ...

By: Dan Beaumont Space Museum

Link:

Gemini 3 50th anniversary: The first American space flight with two astronauts. March 23, 1965 - Video

TIME Science space Russia Gives Space Station Crew the Keys to Its Ship Philip Scott Andrews for TIME Members of the press and officials from NASA and Roscosmos talk with Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka, alongside NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, after a training session at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, March 23, 2015. The official handover of a brand new Soyuz is a milestone for any space flight from Baikonur

No one kept a secret like the old Soviet space program kept a secret. Back in the early days of the space race, Sergei Korolev, the Soviets chief designer, was known only as, well, the Chief Designer, the better to prevent any assassination attempts that officials from Roscosmosthe Russian NASAconvinced themselves the Americans were cooking up. Baikonur, the Russian Cape Canaveral, hidden away in the Kazakh steppes, stole its name from a mining town 200 miles north, the better to confuse enemies who might come looking for it.

But the secrecy of Baikonur was partly just geography. If you want to get to space you need launch pads that aim away from populated areas and that are located as close to the equator as possible, giving your rockets a boost in speed thanks to the physics of Earths rotation. In the U.S. that meant Florida, with millions of people to the west and north but no one at all in the ocean to the east. In Russia, that meant Baikonur.

The Baikonur launch facilitywhere cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka and astronaut Scott Kelly will lift off for the International Space Station on March 28, with Kelly and Kornienko slated to stay a full yearis a half hour drive into the desert outside of Baikonur proper, which is itself is at least three hours away from pretty much anything at all. The old spaceport, when you finally arrive, looks exactly like you would have expected it to look if you grew up during the cold war when everything Soviet was synonymous with scary.

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There are the cement blockhouses and the skeletal gantries and the security fences everywhere, all growing out of the surrounding scrub without so much as a single sapling or tuft of grass to add a little green. You could photograph the place in color, but why bother?

But inside Baikonur, none of that matters. Here, the sense of placeor placelessness, reallyfalls away, replaced by the same kind of closed-world, finely focused, center-of-the-universe bustle that accompanies any launch facility anywhere on the planet.

On Monday, at T-minus five days, the three members of the prime crew and the three members of the backup crew were scheduled to run their final ingress drills, climbing into their Soyuz spacecraft, for the first timeor at least the first official time. That, according to more than half a century of custom, required an equally official handoff, in which the people who built the spacecraft would, in effect, turn the keys over to the people who would drive it.

The ceremony took place in a large meeting room divided by a glass partition. Representatives from NASA, Roscosmos and the media crowded on one side of the glass and waited until officials from both Roscosmos and Energiya, the state-owned contractor that built the rocket and the spacecraft, entered and sat at a conference table facing the partition. The cosmonauts and astronauts, now in preflight medical quarantine, entered through a door on the other side, and sat at a matching conference table facing the officials.

The spacecraft is now ready for you, one of the government men said to the crew in Russian. It is ready or flight.

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Russia Gives Space Station Crew the Keys to Its Ship