Must be lagging on ticket sales……! Hope we don't shut down again…
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| | | We want you to JSCelebrate! | | We have kept ticket sales open for you last minute shoppers! Yes, you can buy tickets today at all Starport locations and on line at starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/special-events/jscelebrates! That's right, if you missed the deadline, we still want you to feel welcome to attend the festivities Friday, Dec 12, beginning at 4:30 p.m.. Bring your family and friends and share the excitement with Center Director Ochoa and her leadership team. Use your $5 ticket (or your on-line receipt) as your pass through JSC Gate 1. Friends and family need only this to get in! Building 9 exhibits, Space Station Trailer, bounce houses, music, robotics demonstrations, photo opportunities, Santa, Cosmo, popcorn and cake are all part of the fun. Food trucks and adult beverages available at an extra fee. You've just got to join in the CELEBRATION at #JSCelebrates! | | Susan Anderson x38630 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/special-events/jscelebrates | |
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| JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – December 11, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Vote Expected to Be Close in House Tomorrow on FY2015 CRomnibus
The House is expected to vote tomorrow (Thursday) on the FY2015 appropriations bill dubbed the "CRomnibus." It combines an omnibus appropriations providing full-year funding for agencies covered by 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills (including NASA, NOAA and DOD) and a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the 12th (the Department of Homeland Security). The vote is expected to be close because of dissatisfaction on both sides of the aisle with policy provisions ("riders") that were added during negotiations. Congress must pass this bill or some other funding measure before midnight tomorrow to avoid a government shutdown.
NASA Says SLS and Orion Will Slip to 2018 Despite Extra Funding
Jeff Foust – Space News
As U.S. lawmakers criticized the Obama administration at a Dec. 10 hearing for not requesting sufficient funding for NASA's Orion and Space Launch System programs, a top NASA official said no amount of additional funding at this point would allow them to be ready for a 2017 launch.
Lawmakers: Orion flight shows need for Mars mission
Ledyard King - USAToday
NASA's successful test flight of a deep-space capsule last week should compel the Obama administration to focus more of its limited resources on getting humans to Mars as soon as possible, key House lawmakers said at a hearing Wednesday.
Federal budget likes Orion, SLS
Scott Powers - Orlando Sentinel
The NASA portion of the budget bill that Congress is trying to approve this week shows a lot of love for the Orion spacecraft that NASA just launched last week and for the Space Launch System rocket being developed, yet not so much for the space station or commercial crew programs.
'CRomnibus' budget a good deal for NASA planetary science, supporters say
Amina Khan – Los Angeles Times
The so-called CRomnibus package is up for a vote in Congress this week – and supporters of NASA are cheering it on. If approved in the House and Senate, the federal spending appropriations for the 2015 fiscal year would give the space agency enough funding to send the Mars 2020 rover to the Red Planet on time and to invest in a flagship mission to Jupiter's moon Europa.
Comet Data Clears Up Debate on Earth's Water
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
One of the first scientific findings to emerge from close-up study of a comet has all but settled a question that planetary scientists have debated for decades.
Newly Found Massive Asteroid Not a Threat to Earth
Claims that Russian scientists have discovered a huge asteroid that could threaten Earth in the near future are just not correct, according to NASA.
Retired KSC Director visits, inspires Brevard students
Mackenzie Ryan – Florida Today
By next week, Jim Kennedy will have visited 64 schools in Brevard County to talk to students about space.
By next week, Jim Kennedy, the retired director of Kennedy Space Center, will have visited with almost every sixth grader in Brevard County.
Russia's Angara 5 on track for December debut
Amy Svitak - Aviation Week & Space Technology
Russian rocket-maker Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center says it has completed comprehensive tests of the new heavy-lift Angara 5 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia ahead of a planned flight test this month.
COMPLETE STORIES
Vote Expected to Be Close in House Tomorrow on FY2015 CRomnibus
The House is expected to vote tomorrow (Thursday) on the FY2015 appropriations bill dubbed the "CRomnibus." It combines an omnibus appropriations providing full-year funding for agencies covered by 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills (including NASA, NOAA and DOD) and a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the 12th (the Department of Homeland Security). The vote is expected to be close because of dissatisfaction on both sides of the aisle with policy provisions ("riders") that were added during negotiations. Congress must pass this bill or some other funding measure before midnight tomorrow to avoid a government shutdown.
Objections to the CRomnibus reportedly range from conservative Republicans who feel it does not send a strong enough message to the President protesting his executive order on immigration to liberal Democrats and some Republicans who object to changes in the Dodd-Frank financial services regulations to liberal Democrats who object to changes in campaign finance laws. (The Department of Homeland Security includes immigration. The proposal to provide it only with a CR and not a full-year appropriation like everyone else is to signal Republican ire at the Obama immigration executive order, but some Republicans want to go further.)
Although appropriations bills are not supposed to include policy provisions, only funding, they often do. That is especially true at the end of a Congress where members are trying one last time to get favored legislation passed and the only bill likely to clear Congress and be signed by the President is an appropriations bill.
It is still possible that no agreement on funding will be reached and the government will shut down at midnight tomorrow, but that still is considered very unlikely. If the CRomnibus does not pass the House tomorrow, House Speaker John Boehner reportedly plans to bring a three-month CR for the entire government to the floor for a vote, pushing funding decisions over into the Republican-controlled 114th Congress. If the CRomnibus does pass the House, a very short term CR may be needed to give the Senate time to act, but that presumably would be only for a couple of days.
None of the concerns appear to be directed at provisions regarding NASA, NOAA or DOD.
We'll provide updates as they are available.
NASA Says SLS and Orion Will Slip to 2018 Despite Extra Funding
Jeff Foust – Space News
As U.S. lawmakers criticized the Obama administration at a Dec. 10 hearing for not requesting sufficient funding for NASA's Orion and Space Launch System programs, a top NASA official said no amount of additional funding at this point would allow them to be ready for a 2017 launch.
William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told members of the House Science space subcommittee that the middle of 2018 was now the agency's planned launch readiness date for the SLS.
"We were holding December of 2017. I would say we've now moved off of that date," he said. "That's just based on the reality of problems that have come along in the program, and some uncertainty in funding."
Gerstenmaier said in an interview after the hearing that NASA was working to a "June or July timeframe" in 2018 for SLS. That schedule, he said, would still keep the program ahead of the November 2018 date set by the Key Decision Point C (KDP-C) review of SLS completed in August.
At the hearing, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) asked how much funding would be required to bring the first SLS/Orion mission, called Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), back to December 2017.
"In terms of the technical work, I think we've really probably moved off of December 2017," Gerstenmaier responded, "so I don't think funding will pull us back to that date."
Orion will not complete its KDP-C review, and thus have an estimated readiness date for EM-1, until spring. However, Orion program manager Mark Geyer said at a Dec. 2 briefing at the Kennedy Space Center that the spacecraft would not be ready for that mission until 2018.
That assessment was shared by Cristina Chaplain, director of acquisition and sourcing management at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. "At this time, it does not look like they can make 2017, and 2018 is even a challenge in and of itself," she said of Orion at the hearing.
Some members of the committee used the hearing to criticize the Obama administration for not including sufficient funding in NASA's budget requests to keep SLS and Orion on track for a 2017 first launch.
"The administration has consistently requested large reductions for these programs, despite the insistence of Congress that they be priorities," said subcommittee chairman Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.). "Congress has once again demonstrated support for the SLS and Orion by providing funding well above the president's budget request in the omnibus for fiscal year 2015."
In that omnibus spending bill, released by appropriators Dec. 9, Congress provided $1.7 billion for SLS, $320 million above the administration's original request. The bill also gives Orion $1.194 billion, more than $140 million above the request.
"If you had come to us for additional funding a year or two years ago, would you have been able to mitigate the risk, or buy down the technical risk, or would we be having the same conversation that the test is going to slip to the right regardless of the amount of funding that we may have been able to appropriate to the program?" Palazzo asked Gerstenmaier.
"That's a very difficult question to answer," Gerstenmaier responded, saying that he took a broad view of all of NASA's human spaceflight activities, including not just SLS and Orion but also the international space station and commercial crew and cargo programs. "I have to look at a balancing across those programs. I can't optimally fund any one of those programs.
"One committee member, though, said Congress was at fault for any problems with SLS. "We should not be blaming the people at NASA and our professionals in the executive branch," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), a longtime critic of the SLS. "We made a wrong decision when we went down this road."
Lawmakers: Orion flight shows need for Mars mission
Ledyard King - USAToday
NASA's successful test flight of a deep-space capsule last week should compel the Obama administration to focus more of its limited resources on getting humans to Mars as soon as possible, key House lawmakers said at a hearing Wednesday.
While praising the space agency for Friday's near-flawless Orion test flight, members of a Science, Space and Technology subcommittee criticized the White House for what they see as the administration's tepid commitment to a Red Planet rendezvous in favor of other priorities.
The test flight that sent Orion 3,600 miles from Earth before returning was "certainly a job well done," said Mississippi GOP Rep. Steven Palazzo, who chairs the Space Subcommittee. Given that, he said, said it is "somewhat puzzling (but) not at all surprising" that President Obama doesn't seem fully sold on a deep-space mission.
"It is no secret that this committee is concerned that the support within NASA for the SLS and Orion is not matched by the administration," Palazzo said, referring to the Space Launch System being built to carry the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle to Mars. "The president has made clear that he does not believe space exploration is a priority for the nation."
Palazzo and other Republicans on the committee pointed to the president's fiscal 2015 budget request, which would cut $330 million from the exploration program (from $3.12 billion in fiscal 2014 to $2.78 billion).
At the same time, they touted a compromise reached Tuesday night on a fiscal 2015 spending bill that would increase the program's budget to $3.25 billion. Congress could approve the measure as early as Thursday.
Administration officials have disputed the characterization that space exploration isn't a priority for them. They say much of the resentment directed at the administration stems from Obama's decision in 2010 to scrap the Constellation Program championed by former president George W. Bush that would have sent astronauts back to the moon. Obama canceled Constellation after an independent panel of experts said it was financially unsustainable.
The Orion capsule slated for use in a Mars mission was initially designed for Constellation.
Congressional Republicans also have accused the Obama administration of underfunding the Mars mission to help pay for the Commercial Crew Program that NASA is developing to replace the space shuttle. The program, which has never received all the money NASA has sought, is a priority for the administration, which wants to stop relying on Russia to carry astronauts to the International Space Station.
Democrats say an overall reduction in federal discretionary spending, pushed chiefly by conservative Republicans elected to cut the national debt, have made it difficult for the space program to meet its objectives.
"We cannot have one set of goals for NASA and for our human exploration programs and then not match those goals with the resources that are required to commit to the work," said Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards, top Democrat on the Space Subcommittee.
Budget uncertainty and a lack of funding for the Space Launch System contributed to NASA's recent decision to delay, from late 2017 to at least mid-2018, a test flight of the SLS rocket carrying Orion.
William Gerstenmaier, who heads NASA's human exploration program, told lawmakers at Wednesday's hearing that speeding progress on the deep-space mission isn't as simple as merely spending more money. A key element is seeing how systems react in space and whether humans and equipment are able to adapt to those conditions.
"It's more than just funding," he told the subcommittee. "It's also (about) how long it takes us to actually get proficient at these skills to take that next step."
Not every lawmaker is eager to spend money on SLS and Orion. California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said dedicating billions to a possible trip to Mars sometime in the 2030s means diverting money from more pressing needs such as detecting asteroids, cleaning up space debris, repairing satellites and creating a space refueling system.
"All of these things are going to be defunded because we're spending billions of dollars on a rocket that may not fly to Mars two decades from now," he said.
Fellow Republican Bill Posey, whose Florida district includes Kennedy Space Center, shot back: "I'm glad that (attitude) didn't stop Apollo."
Federal budget likes Orion, SLS
Scott Powers - Orlando Sentinel
The NASA portion of the budget bill that Congress is trying to approve this week shows a lot of love for the Orion spacecraft that NASA just launched last week and for the Space Launch System rocket being developed, yet not so much for the space station or commercial crew programs.
Still, at $18.1 billion, the 2015 NASA spending proposal coming out of the House-Senate conference committee is 3 percent more than the White House requested for NASA, and 2 percent more than space agency got in the 2014 budget.
For that, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson declared, "On the heels of a successful test flight of the Orion, I'm pleased to see Congress agreeing to better fund our nation's space program. This will ensure NASA can continue progressing towards getting back into space on American rockets and exploring further than ever before."
NASA just successfully test launched the next-generation Orion spacecraft last Friday. It's supposed to be the key craft for any NASA plans for deep-space exploration, back to the moon, to Mars or elsewhere. Congress likes it. Congress also likes the next-generation rocket being developed for deep-space exploration, the SLS, which should be ready by 2018.
The White House asked for just over $1 billion for development of Orion, and the conference report offers almost $1.2 billion. The White House asked for about $1.4 billion for the SLS development, and the conference report offered $1.7 billion.
But NASA's other big manned-space flight programs, the International Space Station and development of commercial rocket companies to ferry astronauts and supplies there got less than the White House requested, though more than those programs received this year.
The proposed Congressional budget offers $805 billion to support the commercial crew program, down about 5 percent from the White House request. The budget offers $3.8 billion for the space station and support programs, such as commercial cargo resupply. That's about 2 percent less than the White House sought.
The conference committee budget also offers more money for several other NASA programs, including science and education, than the space agency received last year.
'CRomnibus' budget a good deal for NASA planetary science, supporters say
Amina Khan – Los Angeles Times
The so-called CRomnibus package is up for a vote in Congress this week – and supporters of NASA are cheering it on. If approved in the House and Senate, the federal spending appropriations for the 2015 fiscal year would give the space agency enough funding to send the Mars 2020 rover to the Red Planet on time and to invest in a flagship mission to Jupiter's moon Europa.
The omnibus bill would provide NASA with $18.01 billion, which amounts to $549 million above President Obama's budget request for this year. Within that amount, planetary science would get $1.437 billion, a $157-million boost.
"Each year now for several years we've had to fight with the administration for adequate levels of funding for planetary science, which has been the crown jewel of NASA," said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge. "But Congress responded with a resounding 'Yes' for planetary science and rejected the cuts and then went well beyond expectations."
The finding would also allow NASA to keep operating the long-lived Opportunity rover, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The bill also specifically sets aside $118 million for a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. This moon, whose icy exterior likely hides a subsurface ocean, is one of the few worlds in our solar system that could host a life-friendly environment.
"We have the science, great minds and technology in place to explore other worlds," Bill Nye, chief executive of the Planetary Society, said in a statement, adding that the proposed planetary science budget was just shy of the organization's recommended $1.5 billion. "We have the support of the Congress. We have the potential to search for life at destinations like Mars and Europa. Let's get out there and see what's up."
The planetary science funding was essential to safeguarding the experience and expertise of NASA's current scientists and engineers, Schiff added.
"There are only a handful of people on Earth who know how to successfully land on Mars, or know how to get to Europa and contemplate a landing there, and they're at JPL," Schiff said. "We don't want to break up the dream team of scientists we have at JPL."
Comet Data Clears Up Debate on Earth's Water
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
One of the first scientific findings to emerge from close-up study of a comet has all but settled a question that planetary scientists have debated for decades.
The new finding, from the European Space Agency's mission to the little duck-shaped comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, appears to eliminate the possibility that the water in Earth's oceans came from melted comets.
Water vapor streaming off the comet contains a higher fraction of "heavy hydrogen" than the water on Earth does, scientists reported on Wednesday.
"That now probably rules out" comets as the primary source of terrestrial water, said Kathrin Altwegg, a scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland and the principal investigator for the Rosetta instrument that made the measurements.
With comets unlikely, most astronomers now think Earth's water came from asteroids.
The new findings, published in the journal Science, came after Rosetta arrived at Comet 67P in August, close enough for the instrument to begin detailed analysis of the molecules coming off the comet. Earlier, the same instrument discovered that the comet exuded the scents of formaldehyde and rotten eggs. "It's a nice start to this phase of the mission," Matt Taylor, the project scientist, said of the water findings.
With Earth's water a puzzle, scientists had long presumed that the planet was dry when it formed 4.5 billion years ago, and that the water came later, perhaps during the "late heavy bombardment" period more than 3.8 billion years ago. Comets, often called dirty snowballs, seemed a likely candidate.
Comets originate from two places in the solar system: the Kuiper belt, a ring of icy debris just beyond the orbit of Neptune; and the Oort cloud, a spherical shell of frozen detritus much farther out. Asteroids are rocky bodies in the inner solar system, mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
But comets' water turned out to be different from Earth's. A few water molecules have a heavier version of hydrogen called deuterium that replaces one of the two hydrogen atoms, forming what is known as heavy water. On Earth, about one in 6,000 water molecules contains deuterium.
Oort cloud comets, it turns out, have twice the concentration of heavy water found in Earth water. Thus, when the Rosetta spacecraft was launched in 2004, most planetary scientists had already crossed comets off the list of possibilities.
But in 2011, a team using the Herschel Space Observatory, an infrared telescope operated by the European Space Agency, took a look at water vapor from the comet Hartley 2 and found that its deuterium signal perfectly matched Earth's water. That opened the possibility that Earth's water could have come from Kuiper belt comets or those even closer, like Hartley 2, whose orbit does not go much farther out than Jupiter's.
"A lot of people thought that meant comets were back in play," said Conel Alexander, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington.
The new measurements of 67P, another Jupiter-family comet, appear to rule out comets again. Its fraction of heavy water is three times that of Earth, higher than those of the Oort cloud comets.
"Ten years ago I would not have been surprised at all by this result, because that's what I expected," Dr. Altwegg said. "But then three years ago we got this Hartley 2 measurement, and that was a real big surprise. Now we're back to what I actually expected."
Much of the solar system's water, including up to half of Earth's, appears to predate the solar system, formed within expanses of interstellar space billions of years ago. The sun, like the universe over all, has very low levels of deuterium, about one-tenth as much as what is found in Earth's water.
However, under certain conditions — cold temperatures along with radiation that knocks electrons from hydrogen — chemical reactions create water molecules with a much higher fraction of deuterium.
In a paper published in Science in September, scientists led by L. Ilsedore Cleeves, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, found that these conditions did not exist in the early solar system, so the high-deuterium water must have been present in the cloud of matter that collapsed to form the solar system. While the outer solar system was cold enough, the radiation was lacking. "Our paper showed that the outer part of the disk cannot be an engine for creating the deuterium fingerprint," said Edwin A. Bergin, a professor of astronomy at Michigan who was another of the paper's authors.
Recent studies on meteorites — pieces of asteroids that fell to Earth — paint a very different history of water. Scientists had thought the newborn Earth was dry, because it formed within the solar system's "snow line," where the temperatures are too warm for water ice to exist in the vacuum of space.
In 2012, Dr. Alexander of the Carnegie Institution and his colleagues published a Science paper finding that some types of meteorites, in particular a class of primitive ones that formed beyond the snow line, have deuterium levels similar to Earth's. In October, in another Science paper, researchers found that meteorites that originated from the large asteroid Vesta, which is believed to have formed inside of the snow line, also possess Earthlike deuterium levels. These scientists believe that ice-rich asteroids from outside the snow line were pushed inward and were among the pieces that combined to form Vesta and Earth hundreds of millions of years before the late heavy bombardment. In other words, Earth may have been wet from almost the beginning.
Newly Found Massive Asteroid Not a Threat to Earth
Claims that Russian scientists have discovered a huge asteroid that could threaten Earth in the near future are just not correct, according to NASA.
Recent news reports from Russia have stated that a researcher discovered a 1,312-foot (400 meters) space rock that could pose a danger to Earth. However, calculations from NASA and the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, show that the asteroid 2014 UR116 does not pose a danger to Earth for at least the next 150 years.
"Some recent press reports have suggested that an asteroid designated 2014 UR116, found on Oct. 27, 2014 at the MASTER-II observatory in Kislovodsk, Russia, represents an impact threat to the Earth," officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California said in a statement Monday (Dec. 8). "While this approximately 400-meter sized asteroid has a three-year orbital period around the sun and returns to the Earth's neighborhood periodically, it does not represent a threat, because its orbital path does not pass sufficiently close to the Earth's orbit." Asteroid UR116 was first seen about six years ago, according to the NASA statement. Officials have now re-computed the space rock's route around the sun and found that it poses no threat to Earth.
To track potentially dangerous cosmic objects (called near-Earth objects or NEOs) as they orbit the sun, NASA engages the help of amateur astronomers and professional space scientists around the world. After people discover and report a potentially dangerous NEO, officials map the comet or asteroid's path around the star to see if it intersects Earth's orbit in a potentially dangerous way.
Researchers are still discovering new NEOs all the time, but astronomers have already tracked many of these asteroids' orbits successfully. NASA officials estimate that they have found more than 90 percent of the NEOs in "Earth's neighborhood" that are 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) in diameter or larger. Scientists are now focusing on discovering 90 percent of NEOs 459 feet (140 m) in size or larger, according to NASA.
NASA is planning to launch a robotic mission to redirect an asteroid into orbit around the moon so that astronauts can explore the asteroid sometime in the 2020s. The asteroid redirect mission will also give NASA the opportunity to gather more data on how to change the orbit of a space rock if one should threaten Earth sometime in the future. Asteroids are also important science targets for researchers interested in learning more about the beginnings of the solar system. Scientists think that asteroids, like comets, are leftovers from the dawn of the solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago, and learning more about their composition could help shed light on the history of Earth and other planets.
Retired KSC Director visits, inspires Brevard students
Mackenzie Ryan – Florida Today
By next week, Jim Kennedy will have visited 64 schools in Brevard County to talk to students about space.
By next week, Jim Kennedy, the retired director of Kennedy Space Center, will have visited with almost every sixth grader in Brevard County.
Starting last spring, the former NASA official traversed the county, traveling from Titusville to Palm Bay. By the time he's done, he'll have given presentations at 64 public schools, an effort to inspire and encourage the next generation.
On Wednesday, he stopped by McAuliffe Elementary School in Palm Bay, sharing pictures of rockets and photographs of space. And he discussed the possibilities created by NASA technology, such as discoveries that have improved prosthetic limbs.
"I want to encourage you to follow your passion," Kennedy said. "If you follow your passion, life is sweet and you'll enjoy whatever you do."
He asked students to consider science careers, but also acknowledged the importance of other professions, such as teaching. The presentation focused on space, but was designed to deliver life lessons as well.
"My stories all teach a lesson about life, and that's what the kids respond to," he said.
During his talk, Kennedy told students to "be proud of who you are." He also shared stories of individuals who have broke down barriers, such as women engineers and teacher astronaut Christa McAuliffe, the school's namesake, who died in the 1986 Challenger shuttle explosion.
The program is a new addition to Space Week, an annual right of passage which culminates with Brevard sixth graders visiting Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The presentations are being sponsored by Delaware North, which operates the Visitor Complex.
Most students will have heard the presentation by the time they take the field trip this week. And teachers said that personal experience — hearing from a retired NASA leader and asking questions about his experience — will help students relate to what they learn and see on the visit.
"It's really, really, really cool," said 12-year-old Nylah Armenia of the presentation. "It's awesome, I love the pictures."
Kennedy's presentations are the latest effort to bolster Space Week, which first started in 2003, when Brevard Public Schools partnered with the National Space Club to make the field trip possible. Despite living nearby, many students had never been to KSC before.
"When we first started it, it was really just a tour for kids," said sixth grade teacher Rita Gynan, "Now there's so much more hands-on activities in the classroom."
Gynan added that she was excited to hear Kennedy's presentation. She and other sixth grade teachers have been preparing students by discussing space and preparing for the KSC visit.
"I am totally in awe of him," she said. "We are very pleased and honored that he could be here."
Kennedy, who grew up in Brevard and graduated from Cocoa Beach High School, said he remembers meeting Astronaut John Glenn as a child at church, and how Glenn left an impression on him.
Kennedy said he wants to leave a similar mark on future generations, and encouraged students to become life-long learners and to follow their passions.
"I was inspired to be the best I can be, and learn as much as I can learn," he said to students. "Go the extra mile. Read a little more than your teacher wants you to at night. ... When you go the extra mile, things get sweeter."
Russia's Angara 5 on track for December debut
Amy Svitak - Aviation Week & Space Technology
Russian rocket-maker Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center says it has completed comprehensive tests of the new heavy-lift Angara 5 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia ahead of a planned flight test this month.
Khrunichev said the rocket was installed on the launch pad Nov. 10 in preparation for ground tests, which analyzed launch vehicle electrical systems and pad equipment. It has since been transferred to an integration and testing facility for subsequent preparation in the run-up to its launch debut which the company says is still on track for December.
The Angara family of rockets mark Russia's first launch vehicle development since the Cold War era and are an essential part of President Vladimir Putin's effort to revive Russia's space industry. Capable of delivering 7.5 metric tons to orbit, the Angara 5 is designed to replace the Russian Proton M/Briz-M heavy-lift launcher, which has suffered a series of launch failures and delays in recent years.
A lighter version of the new rocket, the Angara 1.2 designed to lift 3.8 metric tons to low Earth orbit, was debuted in July.
END
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