Fwd: [nasa-jsc-retirees-list] NASA News

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: May 8, 2015 at 8:28:51 AM CDT
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: [nasa-jsc-retirees-list] NASA News
Reply-To: larry.j.moon@nasa.gov

Happy Flex Friday everyone.  

 

It was great to see all of you that were able to join us yesterday at our monthly Retirees Luncheon. 

 

Especially great to have Walt Cunningham, Dick Meyer, Charles Wheelock, Bill Reeves, out of towner Walter Scott and his wife, & many others with their spouses and friends join us for good fellowship and food.  Exciting news from recent retiree, Irene Piatek, on her upcoming move to Humble!  For those of you recovering from illness or routine surgery, we hope you get well soon and can join us again in the future.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all you ladies! And have a safe and great weekend.

 

 

LEADING THE NEWS

• Failed Progress Falls Back To Earth.

NASA NEWS

• Aldrin Argues Manned Mission To Mars Will Require Incremental Steps.

• GOP Shifting Funding Away From Environmental, Earth Science Research.

• Senate To Mark Up Bill That Would Officially Extend ISS To 2024.

• NASA Proposes New Drug Screening Rule For Contractors.

HUMAN EXPLORATION AND OPERATIONS

• Private Sector's Involvement In Space Discussed At Milken Institute Global Conference.

• Oko: Ability To Feed Astronauts On Mars Mission A "Daunting" Tasks.

• YouTube Celebrities Have The Chance To Interview Kelly.

• Pennsylvania Students Present Research On Radiation's Effects On Spacecraft.

• Morningstar Raises Lockheed's Credit Rating Because Of First Quarter Earning Report.

• Cassidy "Generously" Spoke With Students In NYC.

• Local Teacher Pleased To Be Selected As Space Foundation Liason.

• "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" Films At Kennedy Space Center.

• Thomas Explains Lessons Learned From Being Rejected Three Times As An Astronaut Candidate.

LEADING THE NEWS

Failed Progress Falls Back To Earth.

While much of the day's coverage of the failed Progress cargo spacecraft, which was unable to deliver cargo to the ISS, focused on when the vehicle would reenter the atmosphere, Reuters (5/8) was among the sources to report that the Progress fell back to Earth on Thursday, according to Roscosmos. Any pieces that survived reentry would have fallen into the Pacific Ocean. An investigation into the failure is now underway.

        NASA Space Flight (5/7, Bergin, 305) notes that the ISS partners are discussing whether there should be changes to other launches and departures to and from the ISS. For instance, the departure of astronauts Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov, and Samantha Cristoforetti could be pushed back to June, while the launch of the next crew of astronauts could be pushed back from May to "the middle of July."

        However, Russia's ITAR-TASS News Agency (5/7, 5K) reports that an industry source claimed that the next crew launch was already postponed till June 11.

        Meanwhile, the Japan Times (5/8, 6K) reports that NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, and JAXA's Kimiya Yui took "a two-day final examination through Thursday" for their mission to the ISS, which at the time of the article was still scheduled for later this month. Interfax (RUS) (5/8) reports that "a preflight news conference on Friday for the International Space Station's next prime and backup crews" was canceled because of the investigation into the Progress failure.

        As for the status of the investigation into the cause of the failure, both Interfax (UKR) (5/8) and another ITAR-TASS News Agency (5/7, 5K) article report that preliminary findings indicate that the third stage of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket launching the Progress was to blame.

        Alos covering the story are BBC News (5/8, 1.79M), Wired UK (5/8, Temperton, 14K), SPACE (5/8, David, 241K), Sen (5/8, Zak), another ITAR-TASS News Agency (5/8, 5K) article, a separate ITAR-TASS News Agency (5/8, 5K) article, a further ITAR-TASS News Agency (5/8, 5K) article, collectSPACE (5/7, Pearlman), NBC News (5/8, Boyle, 2.54M) website, AFP (5/8), Xinhua (CHN) (5/8, 12K), Earth Sky (5/7, Irizarry, 32K), Mashable (5/8, Kramer, 2.3M), Softpedia (5/8, Sinpetru, 51K), The Verge (5/8, McCormick, 913K), International Business Times (5/8, Bora, 774K), CNN (5/8, Brumfield, Smith-Spark, 3.17M), Deutsche Welle (DEU) (5/8, 90K), Voice of America (5/8, 63K), ANSA (ITA) (5/8), and Sputnik News (5/8).

        Articles Look At Chance Of Debris Hitting A Person. Rhett Allain, in an article for Wired (5/8, 4.16M), writes about how difficult it is to actually send spacecraft to the ISS, the difficulty to predict when the Progress would reenter the atmosphere, and the chances of any piece of the spacecraft impacting a person.

        The Guardian (UK) (5/7, Clark, 2.93M) similarly calculates the chance of people getting hit by debris.

        Cristoforetti In Her Final Week Aboard The ISS. ABC News (5/7, Newcomb, 3.69M) website reports on Samantha Cristoforetti, "everyone's favorite Star Trek loving, espresso-sipping Italian astronaut," who is currently scheduled to return to Earth with astronaut Terry Virts next Thursday. The article lists five of her "shining moments" at the station, including making "science cool and accessible."

        The Daily Beast (5/7, Nadeau, 947K) has a more detailed account of Cristoforetti's time at the station, including some of her journal entries about her feeling and incidents at the station, such as an alarm that went off back in January.

NASA NEWS

Aldrin Argues Manned Mission To Mars Will Require Incremental Steps.

Voice of America (5/8, 63K) reports on Buzz Aldrin's talk at the Human to Mars Summit 2015, arguing that for astronauts to reach Mars, a "program needs to evolve in series of stages over the course of several years." The article notes that NASA engineer Bret Drake said that this was "more or less" what other have proposed as well. The article also highlights NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's comments at the event earlier this week, when he said, the US is "on pace to reach the goal President [Barack] Obama articulated five years ago at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida: To (land) American astronauts [on Mars] in the 2030s."

        NASA Looking To Establish Human Presence On Mars, Not Colonize The Planet. Newsweek (5/7, 175K) continues coverage of NASA's "Journey to Mars" challenge, which asks the public for ways to make manned Mars missions less reliant on support from Earth. The article notes that NASA "emphasizes" that it said by aiming for a "continuous human presence" on Mars, it "is NOT colonization, which is defined in this context as a one-way trip to Mars with no opportunity to return."

        Squyres: Manned Mars Exploration "Well Worth Doing." The Charleston (WV) Gazette (5/7, Steelhammer, 31K) reports on a talk by Steven Squyres about the Mars rovers and their accomplishments at the University of Charleston on Thursday. He said that sending astronauts to Mars "can't come soon enough" because they could do "in a couple of weeks" what the rovers have accomplished over decades. Squyres said that the manned Mars exploration is "well worth doing."

GOP Shifting Funding Away From Environmental, Earth Science Research.

The Washington Post (5/7, Kollipara, 5.03M) reports there is a push among Congressional Republicans who "want to shift funding away from environmental and earth science research that can help policymakers assess how to regulate pollution and plan for the effects of climate change." For example, the House science committee "advanced the America Competes Act, a bill that sets guidelines for how much money the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology can funnel toward various kinds of research." Democrats are upset because under the proposed bill, which has been renewed twice, "several research offices, including the Department of Energy's biological and environmental research division, would face funding cuts compared with what the White House is seeking." The article notes that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, in recent comments, is also upset by the Republican efforts.

        The National Journal (5/8, Plautz, Subscription Publication, 156K) reports that for congressional Republicans, NASA's Earth science program is "just another example of an administration wasting money on climate-change research." Waleed Abdalati, former NASA chief scientist, said that programs like the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) are part of other valuable research beyond climate change and that it is "not something any other agency can do" and urged lawmakers to reconsider cutting a "fundamental element of the NASA mission."

        Blog Coverage. Lorraine Chow at EcoWatch (5/7, 27K) posts a time lapse video posted to Vox shows how Las Vegas and four other locations have changed over 40 year's because of people's activities. Chow notes that video, developed using Landsat satellite data, is "clear" in demonstrating the need for people's actions to change.

        Meanwhile, Michael Bastasch at the Daily Caller (5/8, 366K) writes that while Michael Gunson, the head of NASA's global change and energy program, warned about the risks from the "quickening...rate of accumulation of CO2" in the atmosphere, "other scientists — including renowned physicist Freeman Dyson —" claim that increasing CO2 in the atmosphere will benefit the Earth by making the world greener.

Senate To Mark Up Bill That Would Officially Extend ISS To 2024.

Space News (5/7, Leone, Subscription Publication, 481) reports that the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is set to mark up a bill on May 20 that would "officially extend the U.S. commitment to the International Space Station" to 2024. The main focus of the article, however, is the measure in the bill that would extend the "regulatory grace period" for commercial spaceflight regulations to 2020. The article notes that George Nield, head of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, has previously told Congress that there is no more need to extend the period because enough data has been collected. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, would allow the FAA "to discuss potential regulatory approaches with the commercial space sector, including observations, findings, and recommendations from the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, prior to the issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking." The FAA would also be directed to overhaul its licensing procedures "to improve efficiency, reduce unnecessary costs, resolve inconsistencies, remove duplication, and minimize unwarranted constraints."

        Parabolic Arc (5/7, Messier) also covers the story, focusing on what the bill means for the FAA.

NASA Proposes New Drug Screening Rule For Contractors.

The Hill (5/7, Devaney, 533K) reports that in Friday's Federal Register, NASA proposes that government contractors "in mission-critical positions" could undergo "pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, random and post-accident drug and alcohol testing." Furthermore, these employees would also now be tested for "amphetamines, opiates and phencyclidine." NASA wrote, "The greatest efforts must be expended to eliminate the abuse of alcohol and use of illegal drugs."

HUMAN EXPLORATION AND OPERATIONS

Private Sector's Involvement In Space Discussed At Milken Institute Global Conference.

Voice of America (5/7, Lee, 63K) reports on how NASA is turning to private companies to help make gains in spaceflight as well as research "that can have benefits on earth too," which was the topic of a discussion at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, said, "There's a tremendous new environment out there where it's no longer just the government doing this. The private sector wants to do this. So my job on the government side is how do I figure out how to team with this private sector that has this quickness, has this entrepreneurial spirit; that I can team and use that with the government side to actually move us forward." The article notes how private company officials disagreed how fast private companies would push beyond the ISS. Lockheed Martin's Michael Hawes said that it might take time for a true "market place" to form on places like the moon. Boeing's John Elbon, meanwhile, said that while it was important not to underestimate how difficult space projects can be, there is "a heck of a lot opportunity" available for companies.

        The Science Times (5/7, Wu) also covers the story.

Oko: Ability To Feed Astronauts On Mars Mission A "Daunting" Tasks.

At the Houston Chronicle (5/8, 2.29M) "Gray Matters" column, Dan Oko writes about an encounter with Grace Douglas, an advanced food technology scientist at NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory, where researchers work "to determine which foods might make the trip to Mars." Douglas said, "We don't want our crews to survive. ... We want them to thrive." Oko considered this a "daunting" task to undertake because of all the restrictions and requirements, especially because it costs so much to send even one pound of material into space. Douglas added, "We are trying to give our crew food that they are familiar with. ... Food that they find comforting, foods that are healthy and they find healthy, that they will be willing to eat. You can't train people to eat something that they don't want to eat. You can't force them, because food is a very important part of who we are in our everyday lives. They're already going into a very unique and unfamiliar situation, and so we want to keep something constant for them. Something familiar." According to Oko, Douglas hopes that 3D printing food could be the solution because it can be used "on the fly to address both flavor and nutritional demands."

YouTube Celebrities Have The Chance To Interview Kelly.

The Tubefilter News (5/7, Gutelle, 1K) reports that "seven YouTube stars" recently had the chance to ask astronaut Scott Kelly about his current work at the ISS. The article notes that Kelly fielded a range of questions from the content creators, who almost all make "science videos" on YouTube. The article notes that the ReelNASA YouTube channel, which posted the interview, has "plenty of other fun videos" as well.

Pennsylvania Students Present Research On Radiation's Effects On Spacecraft.

The Greene County (PA) Observer-Reporter (5/7, Miller, 74K) reports that student from the Washington, Carmichaels, Mapletown, and West Greene school districts in Pennsylvania were in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to present their work over the past year. The students examined "the effects of radiation on spacecraft" in order to design a radiation shield for the Orion capsule. As part of the event, Jason Crusan, NASA director of advanced exploration systems, spoke to the students in a talk that was also broadcast. Speaking about the Morpheus project, which initially crashed before being successfully tested a year later, Crusan said, "This is not typical of NASA. We act like, 'You can't fail.' But you have to fail sometimes."

Morningstar Raises Lockheed's Credit Rating Because Of First Quarter Earning Report.

The Denver Post (5/8, Keeney, 894K) reports that because of Lockheed Martin's first quarter earnings report, stock market analyst Morningstar raised the company's credit rating, as well as joining other companies which recommend buying its stock. The article notes that Lockheed's work on the Orion and other government satellite systems helped boost the results of its Space Systems division.

Cassidy "Generously" Spoke With Students In NYC.

The Villager (NY) (5/7, Minsky, 1K) reports on how last month, students at the NYC Center for Space Science Education had the chance to hear a talk by Chris Cassidy, "a NASA deputy chief astronaut." Cassidy showed "fascinating" video of his time in space, as well as "generously answered questions" from the students. The article notes how Cassidy explained to the publication that it is part of an astronaut's duty to engage students in events like this one.

Local Teacher Pleased To Be Selected As Space Foundation Liason.

The Shore (NJ) News Today (5/8, Pritchard) reports that Joseph C. Shaner School kindergarten teacher Suzanne Burnetta was chosen to be a teacher liaison between the Space Foundation and the Hamilton Township School District. Burnetta said that the selection was an "honor," especially because it allows her to work with "NASA, aerospace companies and engineering firms." Superintendent Michelle Cappelluti said that she was "extremely proud" as well, adding the school hopes to soon bring in former ISS commander Leroy Chiao to speak with students.

"Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" Films At Kennedy Space Center.

Florida Today (5/8, Sangalang, 168K) reports that actor Ian Ziering was at the Kennedy Space Center this week to film "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" Ziering said it was "amazing" to be able to film "where the space program happens."

Thomas Explains Lessons Learned From Being Rejected Three Times As An Astronaut Candidate.

The Khaleej Times (ARE) (5/8, Monsy, 220K) interviews former NASA engineer and astronaut Donald Thomas when he was in the UAE to speak to students. Thomas spoke about how he became an astronaut, including how he almost gave up when rejected three times. He said that the "greatest lesson" he learned was to take any rejection and use it as a way to improve oneself. Thomas also discussed his experience in space, and why he would not want to go on a one-way mission to Mars right now.