NASA Schedules News Conference about Next Space Shuttle Launch

NASA managers will hold a news conference on Wednesday, May 5, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss the status of the next space shuttle launch. The briefing will begin after the Flight Readiness Review, a meeting to assess preparations for shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 mission to the International Space Station.Live status updates, including the start time for the news conference, will be provided during the meeting via the NASA News Twitter feed. To access the feed, go to the...

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NASA Television To Broadcast Arrival Of Space Station Cargo Ship

The residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies on Saturday, May 1, and NASA Television will broadcast the arrival live.Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko, T.J. Creamer, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Soichi Noguchi will watch as the unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 37 craft automatically attaches to the Pirs Docking Compartment at 1:34 p.m. CDT. NASA TV coverage of the Progress arrival will...

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NASA plan will assist UH research

President Barack Obama’s recent proposal for the space program not only effects NASA, but also UH researchers.“The proposal that President Barack Obama has put on the table to emphasize developing deep space exploration technologies, with a goal of going to Mars, is right up our alley,” physics and electrical and computer engineering professor Edgar Bering said. “This is potentially a real benefit to our project.”Bering and the UH Space Physics Group are attempting to build the world’s first commercial...

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NASA, NSBRI Select Proposals To Support Health On Space Missions

NASA's Human Research Program and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, or NSBRI, of Houston will fund 11 proposals to help investigate questions about astronaut health and performance on future space exploration missions. The selected proposals, representing 10 institutions in eight states, will receive a total of almost $10 million over a three- to four-year period.The Human Research Program provides knowledge and technologies to improve human health and performance during space exploration....

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NASA offers live interviews with Hubble experts for 20th anniversary

On the eve of the Hubble Space Telescope's 20th anniversary, NASA will offer live satellite interviews with two of the telescope's premier scientists: Ed Weiler, oassociate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, and former astronaut John Grunsfeld. Interviews are available from 6 to 9 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 23.To participate, reporters should contact Al Feinberg at 202-358-1058 by noon on Thursday.Weiler has worked on the Hubble project since the...

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NASA And NSTA Send Teachers Flying For Science In Microgravity

NASA and the National Science Teachers Association, or NSTA, have selected high school teachers from Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Missouri, New York, North Carolina and Washington to fly an experiment in microgravity.This flight opportunity will allow high school teachers and students to propose, design, fabricate, and evaluate an experiment the teachers will fly in a reduced gravity environment. The overall experience will include scientific research, hands-on design and test operations aboard a...

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13 Things That Saved Apollo 13, Part 8: The Command Module Wasn't Severed

When the Apollo 13 crew jettisoned the crippled Service Module as they approached Earth, they saw the extent of the damage from the explosion of an oxygen tank. "There's one whole side of that spacecraft missing!" Jim Lovell radioed to Mission Control, his voice reflecting his incredulousness at seeing the damage of a 13-ft panel blown off the spacecraft. However, the situation could have been more dire. The heat shield on the Command Module could have been damaged. What's more, NASA engineer Jerry...

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NASA's satellite images show Icelandic volcanic ash moving into Germany

Images taken by NASA’s scientific research satellite have revealed that Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano ash clouds are now moving into Germany.NASA’s Terra satellite flew over the volcano on Friday and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS instrument aboard Terra captured a visible image of Eyjafjallajokull’s ash plume over England and the Netherlands, stretching into Germany.Meanwhile, the ban on flights in British airspace has been extended until at least 7pm due to the...

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NASA Announces Conference on the American Space Program for the 21st Century

NASA will hold a conference following President Obama's remarks about the bold new course the administration is charting for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human spaceflight on Thursday, April 15, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.A diverse group of senior officials, space leaders, academic experts, industry leaders and others who have specific expertise or interests related to the topics of discussion will attend the conference and participate in four concurrent sessions on different...

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White House Defends NASA Plans

The first is the development of a new "heavy lift rocket" that will be used to lift future deep-space craft and is supposed to "push the boundaries" of U.S. exploration in space with the ultimate goal of sending American astronauts to Mars.The second is the re-structuring of the Orion crew capsule, with a simpler design focused on crew emergency escape from the international space station. Administration officials say this renovation will lay "the foundation for future exploration spacecraft."The...

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A look at Nasa's unmanned aircraft

Nasa has successfully started flying unmanned aircraft to carry out environmental research.The space agency has acquired three Global Hawk drones from the United States Air Force.They're designed to fly at very high altitudes for extended periods of time.Peter Bowes has been to see one the planes, in its hangar at Nasa's Dryden Flight Research Centre in California's Mojave Dese...

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The NASA IKHANA Unmanned Aircraft

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President Obama Visits Kennedy Space Center on April 15

A few details have finally emerged about Presidents Obama’s short visit to the Kennedy Space Center on April 15 to discuss his new plans for NASA as part of his 2011 NASA Budget Request to Congress. Obama’s visit to KSC will begin at 1:30 PM and end at 3:45 PM, when he departs for a longer visit to a political fundraiser. Check this story from the Miami Herald about the fundraiser.In February 2010 President Obama announced the complete termination of Project Constellation including the Ares 1 and...

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Girl power aboard the International Space Station

Though many of us did not notice, April 9, 2010 was a historic day for humankind.When the shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station, three women, Naoko Yamazaki, Stephanie Wilson, and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, were part of that seven person crew. Waiting onboard the ISS was Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who had launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 2. Out of the 13 people currently aboard the ISS, the four history-making women are a former schoolteacher, a...

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Newfound Asteroid Will Fly Close by Earth Thursday

A newly discovered asteroid will zip close by Earth Thursday, but poses no threat of crashing into our planet even though it is passing within the orbit of the moon.The asteroid, called 2010 GA6, is a relatively small space rock about 71 feet (22 meters) wide and was discovered by astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Az. The space rock will fly within the orbit of the moon when it passes Earth Thursday at 7:06 p.m. EDT (2306 GMT), but NASA astronomers said not to worry...the planet...

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NASA Discovery Shuttle Docked At Space Station

NASA's space shuttle Discovery has been successfully docked at the International Space Station early on Wednesday. However, the astronauts overcame a minor problem when an antenna broke down disconnecting the radar tracking.Shuttle commander Alan Poindexter and his crew approached the orbiting outpost by relying on other navigation devices."You guys are looking beautiful," Japanese space station resident Soichi Noguchi spoke on the radio as the shuttle drew within 660 feet.The two spacecrafts reached...

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Space Shuttle Mission: STS-131

Shuttle Crew Busy with Heat Shield Inspections and Docking PrepsSpace shuttle Discovery’s seven-member crew will spend their first full day in space today conducting normal scans of their spacecraft, preparing spacesuits for use later in the mission and readying the shuttle to dock to the International Space Station early on Wednesday.The day will focus on using the robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System extension to inspect Discovery's thermal protection system tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon...

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Discovery Rockets Toward Space Station

The space shuttle Discovery is on its way to the International Space Station following a successful liftoff early Monday from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.Discovery and its seven-member crew launched from Kennedy at 6:21 a.m. and are now in orbit above the Earth, NASA said.The astronauts have a busy schedule in the days ahead. The 13-day mission, officially known as STS-131, will see the crew perform three spacewalks.They'll also dock with the ISS to deliver the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics...

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NASA: Shuttle Discovery launch countdown begins

The official countdown has begun for Monday's scheduled launch of NASA's space shuttle Discovery.The shuttle craft is set to liftoff Monday at 6:21 a.m. EDT on from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During its 13 days in space, Discovery's seven-member crew, including three women, will deliver some 17,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station."We're eager to get Discovery flying on Monday morning," NASA Test Director Steve Payne said today, adding that launch preparations...

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Russian, US astronauts blast off to space station

Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut blasted off Friday for a resupply and restaffing mission to the International Space Station (ISS).The Soyuz rocket lifted off on schedule from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe at 0404 GMT carrying US astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Korniyenko.A biting wind whipped in off the plains as the rocket rumbled into life, spitting out a massive plume of fire and smoke before lurching upwards...

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