NASA Awards Space Radiobiology Research Grants

NASA is funding 12 proposals from nine states to investigate questions about the effects of space radiation on human explorers. The selected proposals from researchers in Alabama, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington have a total value of approximately $13.7 million.The ground-based studies will address the impact of space radiation on astronaut health. Research areas will include risk predictions for cancer and models for potential damage to the...

read more

Undergrad Proposal Deadline Nears for NASA Reduced Gravity Flights

The deadline is fast-approaching for undergraduate students to submit their team proposals to NASA's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program. Proposals must be received by 11:59 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, Oct. 28.NASA's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program gives aspiring explorers a chance to propose, design and fabricate a reduced gravity experiment. Selected teams will get to test and evaluate their experiment aboard a modified Boeing 727 jetliner provided by the Zero-Gravity Corporation of Las...

read more

Ares I-X Ready, Weather Remains Unfavorable

At this morning's Ares I-X Launch Status Briefing, Launch Test Director Jeff Spaulding said the flight test vehicle is ready for Tuesday morning liftoff. "I'm very happy to report that we are tracking no problems and the vehicle is in great shape."Weather Officer Kathy Winters offered less favorable news, reporting that there still remains only a 40 percent chance that the weather on Tuesday morning will cooperate. The issue will be a chance of clouds and precipitation in the area. There is a four-hour...

read more

NASA's Fermi Telescope Celebrates First Year of Gamma-Ray Science

NASA will hold a news briefing at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 29, to discuss the first-year science results from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The briefing will be held in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. S.W., in Washington. It will be carried live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Web site.Fermi studies gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light. Findings discussed will include measurements relevant to the search for new theories of...

read more

NASA Selects 18 University Proposals for Steckler Space Grants

NASA has chosen 18 proposals from universities around the country to receive up to $70,000 for Phase One of the NASA Ralph Steckler Space Grant Colonization Research and Technology Development Opportunity.Grant money will support university research and technology development activities that support a sustained human presence in space, increase understanding of the moon's environment and develop basic infrastructure for future space colonies."I'm excited that many of the awards will provide a dual...

read more

NASA Sets Briefing about Ares I-X Readiness to Launch

NASA will hold a news conference on Friday, Oct. 23, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss the status of the Ares I-X rocket launch. The briefing will begin at approximately 5 p.m. EDT, after the conclusion of the Flight Test Readiness Review, a meeting to assess preparations for the flight test. The review is expected to include the selection of an official launch date. Ares I-X currently is targeted to launch at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27.The briefing participants are:- Bob...

read more

Progress Launches to Space Station

A new Progress cargo resupply vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 9:14 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 14. Less than nine minutes later, the ISS Progress 35 reached its preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas.It replaces the trash-filled Progress 34 which undocked on Sept. 21 and was destroyed on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific on Sept. 27.Progress 35 is set to dock to the station on Saturday,...

read more

NASA Spacecraft Provides First View of Our Place in the Galaxy

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft has made it possible for scientists to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar system and its location in the Milky Way galaxy. The new view will change the way researchers view and study the interaction between our galaxy and sun.The sky map was produced with data that two detectors on the spacecraft collected during six months of observations. The detectors measured and counted particles scientists refer to as energetic...

read more

NASA Offers Media Satellite Interviews Oct. 21 for Ares I-X Launch

NASA's Ares I-X Deputy Mission Manager Jon Cowart is available for satellite interviews from 6 to 9 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 21. He will conduct the interviews from the rocket's launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.To interview Cowart, reporters should contact Amber Philman at 321-861-0370 by noon on Oct. 20. NASA Television will broadcast b-roll of the Ares I-X from 5:30 to 6 a.m. at analog satellite AMC-6 at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 5C, 3800 MHz, vertical polarization,...

read more

NASA Television to Broadcast Cargo Ship Arrival at Space Station

The residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies at 8:41 p.m. CDT on Saturday, Oct. 17. NASA Television's coverage of the ship's arrival at the station will begin at 8:15 p.m.The Russian ISS Progress 35 cargo ship, filled with more than two tons of supplies for the station, is set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 8:14 p.m. There will be no television coverage of the launch.Expedition 21 Commander...

read more

NASA Launches Tweetup for Space Shuttle Atlantis Liftoff in Florida

For the first time, NASA Twitter followers are invited to view a space shuttle launch in person at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is hosting this unique Tweetup on Nov. 11 and 12. Space shuttle Atlantis is targeted to launch at 4:04 p.m. EST, Nov. 12 on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station."This will be NASA's fifth Tweetup for our Twitter community," said Michael Cabbage, director of the News Services division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Each event...

read more

Orion Main Parachute Testing Technique Demonstrated

NASA and engineering support contractors completed a demonstration test of the main parachute test equipment for the Orion crew exploration vehicle Oct. 2 at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Grounds in Yuma, Ariz.The demonstration is part of a series of tests to support the design and development of the Orion parachute recovery system, which is derived from the system NASA used to recover the Apollo spacecraft.In August 2008, NASA experienced an anomaly in the test technique when deploying a full-scale...

read more

Space Station Joint Crew News Conference

...

read more

Soyuz Landing Caps Historic Space Station Increment

International Space Station Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt landed their Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan Sunday, wrapping up a six-month stay. Joining them was spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, who spent 11 days in space.Padalka, the Soyuz commander, guided the spacecraft to a parachute-assisted landing at 12:32 a.m. EDT at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk.Russian recovery teams were on hand within minutes of landing to...

read more

NASA Spacecraft Impacts Lunar Crater in Search for Water Ice!

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, created twin impacts on the moon's surface early Friday in a search for water ice. Scientists will analyze data from the spacecraft's instruments to assess whether water ice is present. The satellite traveled 5.6 million miles during an historic 113-day mission that ended in the Cabeus crater, a permanently shadowed region near the moon's south pole. The spacecraft was launched June 18 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance...

read more

NASA to Rebroadcast Global Event from the Space Station

NASA Television will rebroadcast the Oct. 9 global event International Space Station resident Guy Laliberte designed to raise awareness about the need for clean water. Laliberte, who founded Cirque du Soleil, hosts the event from aboard the station."Moving Stars and Earth for Water," will take place in 14 cities across five continents between 9 and 11 p.m. EDT, and will be streamed live on the Web site of Laliberte's ONE DROP foundation at:http://www.onedrop.orgNASA Television will re-air the entire...

read more

NASA Selects High School Students for Inspire Education Program

NASA has selected 1,732 high school students from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to participate in its Interdisciplinary National Science Program Incorporating Research Experience, also known as Inspire. The Inspire project is designed to encourage students in grades nine through 12 to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.The selectees will participate in an online learning community in which students and parents have the opportunity to interact...

read more

Events and Mission Activities at NASA

...

read more

Buzz, Astronauts Shine as Stars of Disney Parade

Buzz Lightyear didn't quite make it to infinity, but he went well beyond the realm of other action figures.The icon of Disney's "Toy Story" films spent 15 months on the International Space Station and got a ticker-tape parade alongside real-life moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and Expedition 18 Commander and NASA astronaut Mike Finke to welcome him home to Disney World in Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 2."Buzz was the perfect crewmate," Finke said. "He lifted our spirits, he didn't talk much and he didn't eat much,...

read more