March 31 News Items

U.S. Contractors Face Layoffs Unless NASA Moves Faster (Source: Reuters)
U.S. contractors involved in human spaceflight will have to lay off up to 10,000 workers unless NASA accelerates orders for a new lunar lander and the space shuttle replacement program, according to Brewster Shaw, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration. Shaw said the five biggest contractors in the sector faced combined layoffs of 8,000 to 10,000 workers because of the gap. The five biggest contractors are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and United Space Alliance. The companies and their smaller suppliers were urging lawmakers and NASA to accelerate work on the Ares 5 program, the cargo component of the Constellation program, as well as the Altair lunar lander program, Shaw said. (3/31)

Expedia Books (Fake) Mars Travel Online (Source: Expedia)
That's right! Expedia has dropped all booking fees—including fees on flights to Mars. Right now you can save over $3 trillion on a Mars vacation—and in this economy, you can't afford NOT to go! Only on Expedia! Click here to reserve your ticket now. (3/31)

Virginia Fireball Now Said to Be Meteor, Not Rocket (Source: Space.com)
A brilliant fireball in the Virginia sky on Sunday was likely a natural meteor event and not the remnants of a Russian rocket, scientists now say, a reversal from yesterday's initial analysis. On Monday, Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory suggested the loud boom and flash of light seen in the skies over Norfolk and Virginia Beach was likely the second stage of the Soyuz rocket that launched Expedition 19 to the International Space Station last Thursday. However, U.S. Strategic Command has since reported that the rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere near Taiwan, on the other side of the world, several hours after the reports of the fireball. So both its timing and entry location rule out the rocket as the explanation for the fireball. (3/31)

Orion PORT Exercise in Florida Will Test Water Recovery (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA will soon begin conducting seaworthiness tests of a full-size mockup of the Orion capsule in the Atlantic Ocean to give engineers a feel for how difficult it will be to recover the spacecraft, as well as what kind of conditions the crew can expect. The Post-landing Orion Recovery Test (PORT) mockup was built in conjunction with the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, which is home to "the worldwide experts at rescue and recovery at sea," according to a NASA official. While similar in shape to the Apollo capsule, the larger Orion capsule needs to have its behavior in water fully characterized. The mockup can simulate both normal splashdown conditions as well as what could happen if the capsule takes on water.

Normally, Orion splashdowns will take place off the California coast. A landing in the Atlantic would only happen following a launch abort. NASA requirements specify that the capsule must be recoverable in conditions up to sea state 5, in which waves can reach above 13 feet. The capsule will be brought out to sea by the ship that normally retrieves the space shuttle's solid-rocket boosters. Tests will start in the harbor at KSC, then will gradually move further out to sea. At some point, the team hopes to experience some bad weather to provide data on rough-sea recoveries.

PORT is budgeted at $4 million for its first two phases. The year-long Phase 1 included the construction of a 1/4-scale mockup for testing in pools. Phase 2, just approved by NASA last week, encompasses the at-sea testing as well as the egress tests, and should also take one year. The third phase of the program will involve tests with the actual recovery ship that will be used for Orion, which has yet to be chosen. (3/31)

Six Embark on 105-Day Simulated Trip to Mars (Source: Reuters)
Six European men embarked on a 105-day simulated trip to Mars at a Russian space institute on Tuesday to test how humans would cope with the long isolation. The volunteer crew of four Russians, one German and a Frenchman smiled and waved to cameras before sealing themselves in the maze of cramped compartments in an imitation spaceship. A padlock was clamped on the giant metal hatch of the warren, the focus of a project which space officials said was a small step toward eventually sending people to Mars. Click here to view the article. (3/31)

Hubble-Saving Space Shuttle Moves to Launch Pad (Source: Space.com)
The space shuttle Atlantis moved out to its seaside launch pad in Florida early Tuesday to prepare for NASA's long-delayed final flight to the iconic Hubble Space Telescope. With Atlantis at the launch pad, NASA will once more prepare the spacecraft for a May 12 launch to the Hubble Space Telescope. Five back-to-back spacewalks are planned during the 11-day mission to upgrade the orbital observatory and extend its life through at least 2013. The mission has been delayed since last fall, when a data handling unit aboard Hubble unexpectedly failed just weeks before Atlantis was due to launch toward the space observatory. (3/31)

NASA Announces $11.5 Million in K-12 Grants, Including One in Florida (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded $11.5 million in grants to public school districts, state-based education leadership, and not-for-profit education organizations nationwide as part of a program initiated by Congress in FY 2008. Each grant is expected to leverage NASA's unique contributions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, enhance secondary students' academic experiences, and improve educators' abilities to engage and stimulate their students. The Florida-based project is led by the School Board of Polk County and will focus on aerospace curriculum development. (3/31)

NASA Announces $11.5 Million in K-12 Grants, Including One in California (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded $11.5 million in grants to public school districts, state-based education leadership, and not-for-profit education organizations nationwide as part of a program initiated by Congress in FY 2008. Each grant is expected to leverage NASA's unique contributions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, enhance secondary students' academic experiences, and improve educators' abilities to engage and stimulate their students. The California-based project is led by the Alameda County Office of Education and will focus on engaging pre-service and in-service teachers who work in schools that serve predominantly underrepresented minority students. (3/31)

Top 10 Worst Space Foods (Source: Discovery.com)
Discovery Space previously featured some of the best foods ever gobbled up in space. Yet it left readers asking: What are the worst space foods? If anyone would know, it's Vickie Kloeris -- NASA's Johnson Space Center space food manager who has been whipping up zero-gravity recipes for 23 years. Click here to see a list of her most notorious space menu picks, some so bad that they never flew at all. (3/31)

Lampson Now Among NASA Candidates (Source: Space Politics)
Former congressman Nick Lampson is now rumored to be under consideration for the NASA administrator’s job. Lampson was in Colorado Springs for the National Space Symposium and was asked about the rumor. “It’s a rumor,” he said. “All I can say is that I would be honored if I was asked. I haven’t been asked.” During the event, attendees (including another former congressman, Dave Weldon; former NASA deputy administrator Fred Gregory; former astronaut Tom Jones; and journalist Miles O’Brien) stressed the importance of getting someone into the administrator’s job as soon as possible. “Vacuum is not good,” said Gregory. “I would hope that very soon that there is an administrator and a deputy administrator.” (3/31)

China's Manned Space Flight Team Wins U.S. Space Achievement Award (Source: Xinhua)
The team of China's Shenzhou-7 manned space flight mission, which marked a number of "firsts" for the Chinese space program in a single mission, was rewarded the 2009 Space Achievement Award from the U.S. Space Foundation. A delegation from China led by Dr. Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the China Manned Space Program, and Taikonaut Zhai Zhigang accepted the award at the opening ceremony of the 25th National Space Symposium, a Space Foundation-sponsored annual gathering of the global space community, in Colorado Springs. (3/31)