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Accelerating Space Station Science: NASA Marshall’s Upgraded Payload Operations Integration Center Enhances Station Work

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NASA unveiled today an upgraded Payload Operations Integration Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The operation center's new capabilities enhance collaboration and enable the ground team to efficiently help the International Space Station crew and researchers around the world perform cutting-edge science in the unique space environment.

The Payload Operations Integration Center -- which began around-the-clock operations March 19, 2001 -- plans and coordinates all the research activities on the space station. Since NASA and 15 international partners completed station assembly in 2011, crews have devoted more time to conducting space station science.

"Conducting cutting-edge research that benefits space exploration as well as life on Earth is a top priority for the space station," said Michael Suffredini, manager of NASA's International Space Station Program. "With this amazing in-space laboratory now fully functional, the crews are able to dedicate more time each week to scientific research and the payload operations team at Marshall has had a major role in making that happen."

The first upgrades to the control room since it was established were completed on June 11. The renovated room features a video wall that expands the ability to share information, such as live video, diagrams and photographs of experiments or displays on experiment power usage or scientific data acquisition. The wall instantly allows the data to be shared by the full team and has the capability to show multiple data and video views related to one or more experiments. With more than 200 experiments on the station at any time, sharing information rapidly among the ground team members and the crew in space is important. With the upgraded flight control room's new arrangement of flight control positions, communication is improved.

"Over the course of the last 12 years, our team has learned much about how they can collaborate to maximize science return," said Jay Onken, manager of the Mission Operations Laboratory at Marshall. "They used this knowledge to redesign the control room to have the most modern technical equipment to support the most amazing international engineering and scientific endeavor of the century."

The upgrades complement the planned modernization of the International Space Station mission control center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The control center in Houston and the operations center in Huntsville both operate 24/7, 365 days a year and interact continuously.

"We recently achieved a major milestone exceeding the goal of completing an average of 37 hours of crew-tended science per week across a six month period," said Carmen Price, leader of the payload operations integration function at Marshall. "Our team even helped the crew achieve a record 72 hours of crew-tended science experiments -- the most hours of science ever conducted by a space station crew in a single week. While the crew is sleeping, we are here conducting experiments remotely from Earth, ensuring numerous automated experiments have the power and data recording and transmission needed to operate successfully."

From the Apollo Program to Skylab to Shuttle/Spacelab missions, Marshall engineers and scientists have collaborated to provide both space-based and ground-based science research facilities for the NASA science community. In addition to its operations role, Marshall manages many science facilities that house station experiments and the Environmental Control and Life Support System that makes it possible for people to live on the station. Marshall's support for the station is a continuation of its key roles in previous human spaceflight programs.

For the latest information on the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Accelerating Space Station Science: NASA Marshall's Upgraded Payload Operations Integration Center Enhances Station Work

International Space Station looks more like Star Trek’s USS Enterprise in astrophotographer’s incredible picture

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The shots were captured using a 150mm f/12 Maksutov telescope They were taken by Maximilian Teodorescu near the town of Dumitrana in Romania

By Victoria Woollaston

PUBLISHED: 06:27 EST, 20 June 2013 | UPDATED: 07:19 EST, 20 June 2013

While testing his new telescope a Romanian astrophotographer managed to capture clear images of the International Space Station passing in front of the moon, in broad daylight.

And the snap makes Nasa's space station look remarkably like the iconic USS Enterprise from TV show Star Trek.

Maximilian Teodorescu was testing the range of his new 150mm f/12 Maksutov telescope near the town of Dumitrana in Romania earlier this month when he took the shot.

This shot of the International Space Station as it crosses in front of the moon was taken by Romanian astrophotographer Maximilian Teodorescu. It bears a striking resemblance to the USS Enterprise ship from TV show Star Trek

The Starship Enterprise was one of the ships that featured in the Star Trek franchise. In the show, this NX-01 model was the first NX-class starship and was launched by the United Earth Starfleet in 2151

Teodorescu took the images on 15 June at around 6.17pm in Romania.

He posted the photos tohis blog. Translated from Romanian, it reads: 'A new 'First-light' or rather 'First-photo'.

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International Space Station looks more like Star Trek's USS Enterprise in astrophotographer's incredible picture

Space station will be visible over Berks

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If you look up at the night sky at just the right time this week, you may notice something unusual: A dot that appears several times brighter than any stars around it.

But that's no moon - or star or planet for that matter. It's a space station.

The International Space Station will be visible over Berks County several nights this week, according to groups including NASA that predict satellite paths.

Wednesday and Saturday are expected to offer the best viewing opportunities for the space station.

It's not a rare occurrence; the station is usually visible for periods twice a year. But it's something astronomy enthusiasts, like Jeff Woods of Spring Township, look forward to.

"It's fascinating to look up and imagine: That's moving at 17,000 miles per hour, 250 miles above my head holding six people who are going to be up there for months weightless," Woods said. "I didn't follow the exact career path that would have taken me into space, but I can live vicariously through it (seeing the station)."

The space station passes over the area twice a day, Woods said. But it's usually not visible because the sky is too bright during the day and the spacecraft isn't lit up at night.

The only way to see the space station is when it's close enough to the sun to reflect the light but the sun is far enough from the land below it to darken the sky.

That happens when the station passes just before sunrise or just after sunset, like it will this week.

"This is not exclusive to Reading," Woods said. "It's going to be visible all over the Eastern Seaboard. But this one on Saturday is going to be right over us."

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Space station will be visible over Berks

Kansas Students to Speak Live With Space Station NASA Astronauts

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HOUSTON -- Expedition 36 crew members and NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Karen Nyberg, currently orbiting aboard the International Space Station, will speak with students gathered at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center at 9:40 a.m. CDT (10:40 a.m. EDT), Wednesday, June 19.

Students will be able to ask the astronauts questions about life, work and research aboard the orbiting space station. Media representatives are invited to attend and cover the 20-minute air-to-ground event, which will be broadcast on NASA Television and the agency's website.

To attend the event, journalists must contact Becky Christner at beckyc@cosmo.org or 620-665-9320. The Cosmosphere is located at 1100 North Plum, Hutchinson, Kan.

NASA activities have been incorporated into Cosmosphere summer programs and local Boys and Girls Club activities in preparation for the conversation with the space station astronauts. Linking students directly to the astronauts aboard the space station provides them with an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study, the scientific components of space travel and possibilities of life in space.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and math teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

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

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA's education programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

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Kansas Students to Speak Live With Space Station NASA Astronauts

Space station crew opens Europe’s Einstein cargo ship after fungus flap

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Video of the first ingress into the Albert Einstein cargo craft on Tuesday.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

It doesn't take an Einstein to see that international differences can still crop up on the final frontier: Take the case of the European Space Agency's Einstein cargo craft, for example. Russian concerns about some potentially moldy cargo bags caused a holdup in the schedule for unloading seven tons of supplies.

The Albert Einstein Automated Transfer Vehicle linked up with the International Space Station on Saturday, delivering a payload that included scientific experiments, clothing, spare parts and an assortment of European-style goodies such as tiramisu and lasagne.

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano couldn't wait to get at the cargo. "There is nothing like the promise of an Italian dinner that I will offer from my personal supply to entice my colleagues to work quickly and well!" he wrote on his blog.

It took longer than expected to start the job, however. A source at ESA told NBC News that the Russians were dissatisfied with the decontamination procedures as they applied to some bags of NASA gear in the shipment. That report was confirmed in NASA's daily status report for the space station, which said that "Russian management expressed concerns with suspected microbial growth on some of the cargo bags in the vehicle."

As a result, the hatch opening was delayed for a day while NASA and the Russians worked out the logistics for wiping down the bags with fungicide. Mission managers agreed to have the crew disinfect 21 cargo bags for possible mold, and Parmitano was finally given the go-ahead to open the hatch early Tuesday.

NASA

The European Space Agency's Einstein cargo craft docks with the International Space Station on Saturday.

NASA

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Space station crew opens Europe's Einstein cargo ship after fungus flap

Cargo Craft Makes a "Relatively" Large Delivery to The International Space Station – Video

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Cargo Craft Makes a "Relatively" Large Delivery to The International Space Station
The European Space Agency #39;s "Albert Einstein" Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) arrived at the International Space Station June 15, automatically docking to t...

By: NASAtelevision

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Cargo Craft Makes a "Relatively" Large Delivery to The International Space Station - Video

Part of Space Station Found

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Phil Green holds a piece of the Mir space station that he discovered along the Merrimack River six years ago.CBS Boston

Next time you go fishing, don't be surprised if you catch more than just a fish.

A Massachusetts man was walking along the Merrimack River when a strange-looking rock caught his attention.

"There she was just sitting there, sticking up like that, and I said heck what is this," Phil Green told CBS Boston. "It just didn't belong."

Green knew there was something different about the greenish rock he discovered but it took him six years to contact a friend who worked for NASA to further investigate.

NASA confirmed that Green's "rock" was actually a small piece of the Russian space station Mir.

Mir went up to space in 1986 and returned to earth in 2001. It is unclear how many rogue pieces of Mir exist, butmost of the space station landed in the South Pacific.

A custodian at Amesbury Elementary School, Green brought in the piece for show and tell.

"I had a lot of fun taking it to school and showing it to all the kids," he said.

The "rock" is Green's most prized possession and sits in his house alongside a letter from NASA.

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Part of Space Station Found

European Cargo Ship ‘Albert Einstein’ Docks at Space Station

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PARIS Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle pulled into port at the International Space Station on Saturday (June 15), delivering a hefty load of supplies, including rocket fuel, experiments, food and clothing for the lab's six-person crew.

The 20-ton spaceship, named for physicist Albert Einstein, docked with the space station's Russian service module at 10:07 a.m. EDT (1407 GMT) after a glacial automated approach guided by high-tech lasers and cameras.

The docking occurred about 20 minutes behind schedule after engineers at the ATV control center in Toulouse, France, took extra time to reset navigation parameters on the unmanned supply craft. [See Photos of Europe's ATV Robotic Space Cargo Ships]

"Thanks to the ground teams," Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano posted on his Twitter account. "ATV docking was really easy. Now the hard job begins: unpacking everything!"

The cargo ship blasted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on June 5, beginning a 10-day pursuit of the space station. A Russian Progress supply freighter left the space station Tuesday, clearing the aft port of the Zvezda service module for the arrival of the Albert Einstein spacecraft.

The ATV hauled seven tons of payload to the space station, including 5,465 pounds (2,479 kilograms) of supplies stowed inside the craft's cargo cabin. The materials include food tiramisu, lasagna, parmesan and other meals along with experiments, clothing and spare parts.

"With the fourth ATV now ready to support and supply the space station with essential supplies and scientific experiments, ESA again proves itself to be a reliable partner in the international station upon which the future can be developed," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency.

Astronauts will open the hatches between Zvezda and the cargo ship Monday, with unpacking of the ATV's pressurized compartment due to begin Tuesday. Technicians loaded the ATV's cargo hold with 209 bags containing 1,400 items, which will take several weeks for the crew to move and store inside the space station.

Most of the supplies are for NASA, which uses resupply craft owned by Europe and Japan in a barter arrangement. The European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency pay for their share of the space station's operating costs through cargo services instead of cash.

ESA says each ATV mission costs 450 million euros, or about $600 million.

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European Cargo Ship 'Albert Einstein' Docks at Space Station

International Space Station Crew Welcomes Albert Einstein ATV

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June 17, 2013

Image Caption: Europe's supply ferry ATV Albert Einstein on approach to the International Space Station. Credit: ESA

ESA Press Release

ESAs fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein, completed a flawless rendezvous with the International Space Station on June 15 when it docked smoothly with orbital outpost at 14:07 GMT (16:07 CEST).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is now connected to the Space Station.

Bravo Europe, bravo ESA, bravo ATV. Thank you Member States, thank you industry, thank you CNES, thank you Russian partner, commented Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA.

With the fourth ATV now ready to support and supply the Space Station with essential supplies and scientific experiments, ESA again proves itself to be a reliable partner in the international station upon which the future can be developed.

The 20-ton ferry, the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe, flew autonomously and docked with the 420-ton complex with a precision of a few cm as both circled Earth at 28 000 km/h.

Such a gentle contact between a spacecraft the size of a double-decker bus and a Station 20 times larger is an amazing achievement, highlighting the impressive level of control achieved by this European space system developed by our industry under ESAs direction, said Thomas Reiter, ESAs Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations.

These impressive technological capabilities will live on in the service module of NASAs upcoming Orion crew vehicle.

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International Space Station Crew Welcomes Albert Einstein ATV


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