A Shuttle Is Wanted in New York

With millions of people visiting the Intrepid every single year, it stands to reason that this would be one of the most intuitive locations to house a space shuttle in. With the NASA orbiter program scheduled to be retired this September, or early next year, the three spacecraft that fly within it – Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor – in addition to Enterprise, need to find a new home in US museums and exhibition centers. Many people in New York, and their elected officials, youth organizations and...

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The Spirit of Pete Conrad Lives on at Innovation Summit

A lunar habitat module, paper that captures sound as energy and a drug delivery system for use in space. What do these inventions have in common? They’re all concepts being developed for commercialization by high school students competing in the Conrad Foundation’s Innovation Summit.The summit is being held April 8-10, 2010 at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The "Spirit of Innovation" award is in honor of the late Charles 'Pete' Conrad, a highly decorated naval aviator and astronaut...

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Privatized spaceflight could launch industry, or see U.S. eclipsed by rivals

The final countdown has begun to the end of manned space flights by NASA, leaving some to fret that the nation's dreams of reaching for the stars may be in jeopardy under President Obama's plan to commercialize spaceflight.Obama on April 15 will make the case for the most radical change of direction in NASA's history, wading into a debate laden with emotion, big bucks and ambitions that united a nation in a race to the moon a half-century ago.After the space shuttle's aging orbiters are retired...

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Discovery is go for April launch

Discovery is ready for a 5 April launch on its STS-131 mission to the International Space Station."We are ready to fly," declared Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, last Friday, following a "thorough review" of the spacecraft and systems.The shuttle will blast off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A at 10:21 EDT, carrying the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module filled with "supplies, a new crew sleeping quarters and science racks that will be transferred...

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Russia to resume space tourist programme in 2-3 years

Space tourists will be again able to fly on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station in two to three years, Russia's top space official said Friday.Russia stopped sending tourists to space last year because the International Space Station (ISS) crew has increased from three to six, and all the places on board the spacecraft have been reserved for Russian and foreign astronauts."Our capabilities to produce and launch spacecraft have doubled (since 2009), so the possibility (of...

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NASA Awards Space Technology Research and Development Contract

NASA has contracted with ERC Inc., of Huntsville, Ala., for space technology research and development activities at the agency's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. The contract has a maximum value of $45 million.This is a cost-plus, fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. The base contract lasts one year and has three one-year options.ERC Inc. will support the Space Technology Division in the Office of the Director of Exploration Technology at Ames. The division...

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Moon's Water Comes in Three Flavors, Scientists Say

Since the surprise discovery last year of trace amounts of water on the moon, scientists have been redefining their concept of Earth's rocky neighbor. Now researchers say the water on the moon comes in three different flavors.Until recently the moon was thought to be bone dry. But measurements in the last year from the Mini-SAR and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3 or "M-cubed") instruments on India's Chandrayaan-1 moon probe and from NASA's recent LCROSS mission have proved that wrong.Mini-SAR found 40...

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Former astronaut encourages kids to reach for the stars

John Herrington said his life was literally held in the arms of Canada.In 2002, Herrington was part of the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour that was working on the International Space Station. The American spaceman spent 13 days in orbit and conducted several space walks with the help of the Canadarm."It's a remarkable piece of technology," Herrington said Monday, pointing to a photo of the arm in action while giving a presentation to a small crowd in the auditorium of Laura Secord Secondary...

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NASA IceBridge Mission Prepares for Study of Arctic Glaciers

NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicks off its second year of study when NASA aircraft arrive in Greenland March 22.The IceBridge mission allows scientists to track changes in the extent and thickness of polar ice, which is important for understanding ice dynamics. IceBridge began in March 2009 as a means to fill the gap in polar observations between the loss of NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, and the launch...

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China Accelerates Its Lunar Plans

After announcing recently that it will soon begin working on its own space station, the Chinese space agency is now accelerating its plans to go to the Moon. Plans call for this to be achieved by using orbiters at first, then with automated landers, and later with spacecrafts capable of sample-return missions. The country is also planning setting up its own laboratory to handle the rocks that will be brought back from Earth's natural satellite, so as to prevent the risk of biological cross-contamination.The...

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NASA's Latest High-tech Autonomous Robotic Life Forms

NASA's Latest High-tech Autonomous Robotic Life Forms - Funny blooper videos are h...

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NASA Awards Civil Design, Engineering and Services Contract

NASA has selected Jones Edmunds & Associates, Inc. of Gainesville, Fla., to provide civil and environmental design, engineering and other professional services. Services will be provided at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and overseas emergency space shuttle landing sites. The work will rehabilitate, modernize or provide new facilities and systems at these locations.This new indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity...

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NASA Announces Systems Engineering Student Competition

NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate is inviting teams of undergraduate and graduate students throughout the country to participate in the fourth annual Systems Engineering Paper Competition. Participants in the competition will submit a paper on an Exploration Systems mission topic.The deadline to register for the competition is April 16. Papers are due April 23. The winning teams will be announced in May. Awards include up to $3,500 in cash scholarships and VIP invitations to attend...

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NASA Awards Civil Design, Engineering and Services Contract

NASA has selected Jones Edmunds & Associates, Inc. of Gainesville, Fla., to provide civil and environmental design, engineering and other professional services. Services will be provided at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and overseas emergency space shuttle landing sites. The work will rehabilitate, modernize or provide new facilities and systems at these locations.This new indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity...

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NASA TV Provides Coverage of One Space Station Crew's Return to Earth and Another's Journey There

NASA Television will cover the landing of two current International Space Station crew members and the launch of three upcoming station residents later in March and April. Coverage begins with a broadcast of crew farewells and hatch closure aboard the station March 17, and continues with the arrival, docking and hatch opening of the new Expedition 23 crew members on April 4.Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Soyuz Commander Max Suraev are scheduled to land in the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft March...

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NASA TV Media Channel Provides Clean Feeds for News Organizations

NASA Television provides a standard digital television channel as a resource for news media. The NASA Television media channel provides feeds of the agency's news, briefings and conferences, daily video files from around the agency, expendable vehicle launches, and the only available feeds of space shuttle mission coverage that contain only mission audio and natural sound.Media organizations, producers and reporters are reminded the only way to receive a clean feed of shuttle launches, in-flight...

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NASA Offers 'FAST' Opportunities For Zero-G Technology Testing

NASA has announced opportunities to test emerging technologies during flights on an airplane that simulates the weightless conditions of space. The technologies should have potential use in future NASA projects, support future exploration systems, or improve air and space vehicle capabilities.NASA's Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology, or FAST, program helps emerging technologies mature through testing in a reduced gravity environment. In order to prepare technologies for...

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Space station could function until 2028, says consortium

PARIS — The consortium of agencies building the International Space Station (ISS) wants to see if the orbital outpost can manage until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.There are no recognized technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the present planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020; it said in a press release after a meeting of ISS partners in Tokyo.The partnership is currently functioning to certify on-orbit elements through 2028, it said.The Tokyo meeting...

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Station Crew works with Robotics, setups for Spaceflight Transports

Inside the Japanese Kibo Laboratory, Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer utilizes the Japanese Kibo laboratory’s 33-foot-long main arm to move a smaller robotic arm, known as the small fine arm, out of Kibo’s airlock and into place for operation. Over the next two days, the two flight engineers will perform a sequence of checkouts and calibrations of the small fine arm, which will be used on the end of the main arm to move small science experiments and pieces of hardware.Temporarily,...

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Discovery and Crew arrange for STS-131 Mission

Commander Alan Poindexter is position to lead the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery.Union Poindexter will be Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.Discovery will carry a multi-purpose logistics module packed with science racks for the laboratories aboard the station. The mission has three planned spacewalks,...

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Shuttles can remain flying

The US space shuttle fleet can carry on flying beyond NASA's 30 September deadline if the money is made available to keep it going, a US space agency official told reporters on Tuesday.I think the actual issue that the agency and the nation has to address is the expense, said Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon, noting the shuttle fleet costs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration $200-million per month to maintain it in working condition.Where that money comes from is the huge...

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NASA Extends Johnson Safety and Mission Assurance Contract

NASA has exercised a $60 million, one-year extension option for a contract with Science Applications International Corporation of Houston to provide support to safety and mission assurance activities at the agency's Johnson Space Center.The Safety and Mission Assurance Support Services contract helps ensure safety, reliability, maintainability and quality in the International Space Station, space shuttle and Constellation programs.The cost-plus-award-fee contract option that has been exercised continues...

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NASA appeal exposes iPhone app fine print

Apple's iPhone is worse for modernization and competition than the PC ever was, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has published the iPhone developer contract in full.The deal, which all utilizes of the iPhone SDK must sign, has been roundly criticized for being “one-sided”, giving Apple absolute control over an app's chance of success.The contract says developers may only sell their apps via Apple's App Store, and that Apple can pull the plug on them at any instant, removing...

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NASA: Money key to additional space shuttle flights

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's space shuttle manager says it wouldn't be tough to add more shuttle flights, the real question is money.Program manager John Shannon said Tuesday it costs $200 million a month to maintain the fleet flying.Right now, the space shuttles are believed to retire this fall. Four extra missions are planned. Some in Congress, though, are pushing for more flights.Last month, President Barack Obama killed NASA's Constellation program, which would have formed a shuttle successor.Shannon...

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NASA Hosts First-Ever Water Sustainability Forum March 16 -18

NASA today announced its founding partnership of Launch, an initiative to identify, showcase and support innovative approaches to sustainability challenges through a series of forums. The first forum, "Launch: Water," will take place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida from March 16-18."NASA is perfectly positioned to host a conversation with experts about potential solutions to the world's most perplexing sustainability problems," said NASA's Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, the host of...

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Space Shuttle deliberate Goes Ballistic

President Obama vowed to protect his plan to mothball NASA's shuttle fleet as the debate over the spacecraft's future turned partisan.The White House said Obama would explain to the country why he consider NASA would get more bang for its space buck by scrapping the shuttle and turning rocket launches over to private contractors in an address slated for April 15th.After years of underinvestment in new technology and impractical budgeting, the President's plan will unveil an ambitious plan for NASA...

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Historic Deep Space Network Antenna creates Major Surgery

Like a hard-driving athlete whose joints require help, the giant "Mars antenna" at NASA's Deep Space Network site in Goldstone, Calif has begun major, delicate surgery. The operation on the historic 70-meter-wide (230-foot) antenna, which has established data and sent commands to deep space missions for over 40 years, will replace a portion of the hydrostatic bearing assembly. This assembly allows the antenna to rotate horizontally.The rigorous engineering plans call for lifting about 4 million...

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How to save the Earth through the World Wide Web

Yet, if you are eager on spending a few moments of your day defending the Earth from an imminent solar attack, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London would like to hear from you.Its Solar Stormwatch website things to see the danger of radiation bursts from the Sun - and gives users the chance to help scientists spot Sun storms - known as coronal mass ejections - before they cause damage on Earth.The site was built in partnership among the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford...

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