NASA to launch Endeavour's final mission on May 16

WASHINGTON: The date for the launch of NASA's space shuttle Endeavour has been finalised for May 16.

NASA managers have set the lift-off for 8:56 a.m. EDT on Monday. Launch attempts are available through May 26, except for May 21. The STS-134 mission to the International Space Station is the penultimate shuttle flight and the final one for Endeavour.

Space Shuttle Program Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses and Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach also discussed the progress of repairs since Endeavour's launch postponement on April 29 at a news briefing from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A short in the heater circuit associated with Endeavour's hydraulic system resulted in the launch postponement. Technicians determined the most likely failure was inside a switchbox in the shuttle's aft compartment and associated electrical wiring connecting the switchbox to the heaters. The heater circuits prevent freezing of the fuel lines providing hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry.

The faulty box was replaced May 4. Since Friday, Kennedy technicians installed and tested new wiring that bypasses the suspect electrical wiring and confirmed the heater system is working properly. They also are completing retests of other systems powered by the switchbox and are closing out Endeavour's aft compartment. 

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Endeavour Power Box Testing Continues, New Launch Date Expected Friday

Technicians at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A in Florida continue testing various systems inside space shuttle Endeavour associated with a newly installed power distribution box, called a Load Control Assembly 2 (LCA-2). So far, all systems have checked out. Overnight, teams will retest power for Endeavour’s reaction control system.



Endeavour’s no earlier than launch date remains May 10, but senior NASA managers will meet Friday to evaluate the progress of repairs and select a new launch date for the STS-134 mission to the International Space Station.



Engineers have been doing forensic engineering testing on the failed LCA-2, which was removed from Endeavour on Tuesday. The LCA-2 feeds power to a variety of systems, including heaters on the fuel line for Endeavour’s auxiliary power unit-1 (APU-1). APUs control the shuttle’s hydraulic system. Teams are trying to determine what caused a circuit inside the power box to short out.


‪The APU-1 fuel line heaters did not work on April 29, prompting the launch team to scrub Endeavour’s first launch attempt.

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NASA says Endeavour will not launch before May 10

• WASHINGTON - Engineers have identified the technical problem that delayed the space shuttle Endeavour's final mission last week, but the next liftoff attempt will not be before May 10, NASA said Monday.
  
  "NASA space shuttle and International Space Station managers met Monday and determined that Tuesday, May 10 is the earliest Endeavour could be launched on the STS-134 mission," the US space agency said in a statement.
  
  The mission of the shuttle Endeavour is to be the US program's second-to-last flight to the International Space Station, followed by Atlantis in June. After that, the 30-year-old US shuttle program will end.
  
  The glitch, which caused NASA to scrub the attempt hours before liftoff Friday, was traced to a power problem in the aft load control assembly-2 (ALCA-2), a box of switches that control electrical flow to heaters that keep fuel lines from freezing in orbit.
  
  "The plan is to remove and replace the box, but that work and related testing will take several days to complete," NASA said.
  
  "Plans are for managers to reconvene Friday to determine a more definite launch date after the box is removed and replaced and the retest of systems has been completed."
  
  The six-member crew of astronauts left Florida on Sunday and are engaging in more mission training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas while they wait for the next launch attempt date to be announced.
  
  Endeavour will carry a $2 billion, seven-ton particle physics detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, which will be left at the space station to scour the universe for dark matter and antimatter.
  
  The 14-day mission, known as STS-134, is to be commanded by US astronaut Mark Kelly, whose wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head sustained in January.
  
  Giffords was allowed by her rehab doctors in Houston to fly to Florida to watch the launch, and she is expected to return again for the next attempt, her office said.

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Final countdown: As nasa prepares to scrap its workhorse, Alex Hannaford of The Telegraph meets the last shuttle pilots and asks: where next?

Jake Stanfill will never forget the day his parents took him down to the beach at Sebastian Inlet, Fla. It was April 12, 1981, and he was 11 years old. Up the coast about 65 kilometres, but clearly visible to the Stanfills and their friends who had gathered on the warm sands and were now looking skyward, the space shuttle Columbia was preparing for liftoff.

It was a clear day and, as a vertical plume of bright white smoke shot heavenward, the young Jake -one of thousands of spectators who witnessed the launch -watched the shuttle roll over on its back and then separate from its boosters. He turned to his parents. "Tears were streaming down their faces with pride," he says. "It was then I realized we were on the cusp of something the world had never seen."

On Tuesday, June 28 -just over 30 years on from that inaugural launch -Chris Ferguson, Rex Walheim, Sandy Magnus and Doug Hurley will suit up and climb into the space shuttle Atlantis bound for the International Space Station. The foursome will make history as the last crew ever to fly a NASA space shuttle mission. The significance of this final flight is not lost on the international space community, or on the astronauts themselves. The spacecraft is, in the words of Sandy Magnus, the only woman on board that final Atlantis mission, "the most unique vehicle that human beings have ever built,"

Columbia's first trip into orbit, which launched the shuttle program, quickly became a symbol of U.S. power and dominance. A statement by then-president Ronald Reagan, read to Columbia's crew, said: "You go forward this morning in a daring enterprise and you take the hopes and prayers of all Americans with you. As you hurtle from Earth in a craft unlike anything ever constructed, you will do so in a feat of American technology and American will."

"Did it blow people's minds? Certainly," says Valerie Neal, a curator of human space history at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.

"It was an awesome achievement -something people took great pride in. This technology held the promise of space flight becoming routine, and simply by looking like an aircraft, it was easy to extrapolate that it could operate like airplanes operate and that some day, ordinary people could go into space as well. In that early '80s flush of optimism, this was the way of the future."

The shuttle program was the result of a decision by then-president Richard Nixon's administration to shut down the Apollo program to reduce federal spending. "People were not impressed with that," says Professor John Logsdon, author of several books about manned space flight and a NASA Advisory Council committee member.



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Test of Big Space Rocket Set for Late 2012

An American space company says a powerful new rocket should be ready for a test launch by the end of next year. The company is Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX. Its new rocket is called the Falcon Heavy.

Test of Big Space Rocket

Company officials say it will be able to Transport satellites or spacecraft weighing up to fifty-three metric tons into orbit. Fifty-three metric tons is one hundred seventeen thousand pounds. That load weight is double the capacity of NASA space shuttles. The space agency is retiring its shuttles after thirty years.

Elon Musk is the chief executive officer of SpaceX.

ELON MUSK: "One hundred seventeen thousand pounds is more than a fully loaded Boeing 737 with one hundred thirty-six passengers, luggage and fuel in orbit. So that is really, really humongous. It’s more payload capability than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn Five."

NASA used Saturn Five rockets during its Apollo and Skylab programs in the nineteen sixties and seventies. A Saturn Five launched the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first humans on the moon in nineteen sixty-nine.

The rockets were removed from service in nineteen seventy-three. But they remain the most powerful ever built.

Elon Musk says the Falcon Heavy will be the second most powerful rocket ever. He says it was designed to do more than carry satellites and other equipment into space. He says the rocket was designed to meet NASA's ratings for human flight safety. So it could someday be used to carry astronauts and other travelers into space.

Mr. Musk says the Falcon Heavy could also be used for missions like carrying a robotic lander to collect samples from Mars.

ELON MUSK: "It has so much capability, so much more capability than any other vehicle, that I think we can start to contemplate missions like a Mars sample return, which requires a tremendous amount of lift capability because you’ve got to send a lander to Mars that still has enough propellant to return to Earth."

The first launch is planned from the company's launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is expected in late twenty-thirteen or fourteen.

In time, SpaceX hopes to launch ten Falcon Heavy rockets a year. It says the rocket should reduce launch costs to about two thousand dollars a kilogram. That is about one-tenth the cost of carrying loads into orbit on a space shuttle.

SpaceX already has a billion-and-a-half-dollar deal with NASA to use a smaller rocket to transport cargo to the International Space Station. The rocket is the Falcon 9, and the deal is for after the two last shuttles -- Endeavour and Atlantis -- are retired this year.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms and Jessica Berman. I'm Steve Ember.
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The Moon will be at its Closest to Our Planet @ Mar 19th,

This coming March 19, 2011, the moon will be at its closest point to our planet earth in 18 years - a mere 356,577 kilometers away. Astrologer Richard Nolle called it a "supermoon" back in the 1970s. This phenomenon is also called ‘lunar perigee’ the opposite of the ‘lunar apogee’ when the Moon is furthest from Earth. Supermoon is described a new or full moon at 90% or more of its closest orbit to Earth. On the 19th, it will be at 100%.

Supermoon...

A number of astronomers predict that this phenomenon was worrying, because it will have an effect on climate patterns on Earth. Some people connect the lunar perigee or supermoon with catastrophe, like earthquakes.

Emeritus Professor for Astronomy and Planetary Science Department, Peter GoldreichPeter Goldreich at Caltech University, notes that he and a number of other scientists have studied the moon for decades and have not at all found it to cause these natural disasters.

Natural Disaster

Gordon Johnston, Planetary Program Executive for NASA, told FoxNews.com that “These will be the strongest tides of the month, but they won’t be much different from last year. They’re not that unusual from other tides around the full moon.”
Source: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8461098-march-19-the-moon-will-be-at-its-closest-to-planet-earth

Discovery Blasts Off One Last Time

Nearly everyone has seen a shuttle launch, on cable or regular television sometime during the last 30 years. While the program, with its successes and failures, has to many become routine, launches over the years remain a symbol of hope and pride to the American public.

The announcement last summer that the shuttle program will be ending has put a question mark on America's manned space program.

The shuttle Discovery was scheduled to launch in November, but due to a myriad of technical issues, was not launched until this past Thursday, Feb. 24.

In attendance for the historic launch were John and Susie Galer of Hillsboro, publishers of The Journal-News.

The six man crew, plus one robot, is delivering a permanent Multipurpose Module to the International Space Station. The PMM will provide additional storage for the station crew and experiments in physics, materials science biology and biotechnology.

Discovery also carries critical spare components and the Express Logistics Carrier 4 to the station. The Express is an external platform which can hold large equipment and can only be transported using the shuttle's unique large load capability.

The STS-133 mission will also feature two space walks for maintenance and installation of new components.

The Launch

There were perfect launch conditions last Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center, and the launch being Discovery's last brought thousands of media and visitors to the center, located in Cape Canaveral, FL.

Liftoff was scheduled for 4:50 p.m. EST, but the launch control was on a five minute hold because of a safety issue on the range.

At 4:48, the hold was released and the countdown started. A three minute window was allotted for Discovery's launch. It had to takeoff by 4:53 p.m. or the crew would get to start over again on Friday.

The launch team succeeded with only two seconds to spare, overcoming a technical glitch.

Watching a shuttle launch on TV, is always exciting, but nothing compares to being on the Complex 39 Press Area just three miles from the launching site.

The scenes on TV or reading about it the next day in a newspaper don't begin to give you an adequate feeling of the event.

At first as the launch starts, steam rises from under the shuttle launch tower. Water used as a sound and vibration buffer pours out when the three shuttle engines are first ignited and turns instantly to steam about two seconds prior to liftoff.

The firing of the two solid rocket boosters initiates Discovery's climb off the pad, and visually smoke and huge orange flames engulf the tower.

From our vantage, three miles from the launch pad, we watch as Discovery slowly clears the tower and starts a rotation which directs all five motors back our way. There still is no sound but the rockets burn is one of the brightest lights you can see without looking away. It is unbelievably bright.

The launch is only a few seconds under way. The crowd is silent, awestruck at the amazing display.

About 15 seconds into the launch from our vantage point, still in total silence, you begin to feel a vibration, as your pants and shirt sleeves seem to vibrate, you feel the power first. Then slowly the sound arrives, first a couple of sharp clicks, these are the ignition of the main shuttle engines, which were started prior to liftoff and created the initial steam.

Next comes the growing roar of the solid rocket boosters as they ignite for liftoff. The sound grows a little, but after the shuttle's turn, with all five rocket motors facing you, the sound grows and grows. It is incredible, to feel and hear the power of this launch and to be close to the drama of sending six crew men into space.

Visually you can see Discovery through the first four minutes of the flight. The solid rocket booster's separation is also visible. In less than seven minutes Discovery was in orbit for its 11-day mission.

Discovery's History

Discovery flew its maiden voyage in 1984, and will be retired after this flight. It flew the return to flight missions in 1988 following the loss of Challenger and again in 2005 after the loss of Columbia. It launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, and Senator and former astronaut John Glenn flew onboard in 1998.

With this trip, Discovery will have flown in space 39 times more than any other shuttle.

Loss of the program will mean a loss of nearly 9,000 jobs for the space program. But there is current optimism at NASA, that the manned space program will adapt as private business is given the chance to fill the need in manned space flight.

Source:http://www.thejournal-news.net/articles/2011/02/28/news/news01.txt

Discovery set for final mission

CAPE CANAVERAL - After a four-month delay, space shuttle Discovery is just hours away from blasting off on its final mission ever.

NASA's most experienced orbiter – and the most-flown spacecraft ever – is set for launch at 4:50 p.m. on a resupply mission to the international space station. Among the crew of six is Clearwater's Nicole Stott, making her second spaceflight.

Discovery was supposed to make this flight last October, but a fuel leak forced a delay during which cracks in the shuttle's giant fuel tank were found. An extensive analysis led to a series of repairs that wrapped around the entire circumference of the tank.

With beefed-up supports on the tank, Discovery rolled back out to the seaside launch pad last month and has enjoyed a smooth countdown so far.

Forecasters expect this week's good weather to continue. There is now a 90-percent chance of acceptable conditions for launch, with low clouds and a stray shower being the only real concern.

But even if the weather is perfect, Discovery's launch will still hinge on the successful docking of a European cargo carrier that launched last week. The unmanned freighter is scheduled to link up with the station just six hours before the shuttle's launch; should anything go wrong, Discovery may have to stand down.

Source:http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/scitech/space/discovery-set-for-final-mission-022411

NASA studying request to combine Dragon test flights

NASA is reviewing data from SpaceX's historic December demo mission of the Dragon capsule before approving the company's request to send its next test flight all the way to the International Space Station.

SpaceX displayed the Dragon capsule in Washington last week. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Agency and company officials say the Dec. 8 orbital test of the Dragon spacecraft was successful. NASA has already paid a $5 million award for the milestone under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program, an agreement between the agency and firms developing resupply vehicles for the space station.

But NASA officials aren't quite ready to honor SpaceX's public request to combine its next two test flights into a single action-packed mission in July to prove the Dragon's ability to service the space station.

"There were a number of observations tracked during the flight that need to be resolved before the next one," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's commercial crew and cargo program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Nothing major, but certainly things that need to be addressed before SpaceX attempts the next demonstration flight."

Lindenmoyer said NASA and SpaceX are studying data from the mission in a process leading up to a flight readiness review before the next launch.

"There was nothing significant I think would hold up the next flight," Lindenmoyer said. "It's just a matter of routine engineering analysis that has to be done to correct those observations."

NASA has also asked SpaceX to submit a proposal to the agency verifying the spacecraft's ability to accomplish objectives of the second and third demonstration flights originally laid out several years ago.

"We've asked a number of technical questions," Lindenmoyer said. "Do they have the propellant performance, the margin, the capabilities, the timeline and the training? There are a lot of things that have to be done because this will be an extended mission. You have to accomplish all the objectives of the second flight. It involves breakout maneuvers, multiple approaches to the station, things that are normally done on any first flight of a new vehicle to the station."

The COTS plan calls for a second Dragon test flight to rendezvous with the space station before backing away. A third demo mission was supposed to proceed within about 30 feet of the complex, close enough for the station's robot arm to grapple the craft and attach it to one of the lab's berthing ports.

SpaceX wants to consolidate the two flights and fly the next mission to a berthing on the complex. The company says an all-in-one flight would accelerate SpaceX's 12 operational space station resupply missions under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

Combining the missions would require the Dragon to achieve the goals of both flights, including fuel-burning abort and retreat tests and extensive thruster firings. If the spacecraft is healthy and still has enough propellant, mission controllers could send the capsule closer to the space station for berthing.

The space agency expects final documentation from SpaceX in the "coming weeks," then NASA will be ready to decide on the flight test program.

"Is it technically possible? Are the crews properly trained? It spans different increment crews on-orbit, so that's a factor," Lindenmoyer said. "We had been planning for a longer period, and now we have to see if all of that planning can be done. Those are the things we're looking at right now."

Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, told Spaceflight Now last week there is not "any major question that Dragon can combine both missions."

NASA and SpaceX officials would not disclose what issues were observed during the Dragon test flight, which orbited Earth twice after launching on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The 9.5-foot-tall capsule splashed down under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean.

The growing space contractor is in the final stages of testing its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule for unmanned cargo delivery missions to the space station.

SpaceX expects to introduce solar panels, cargo racks, rendezvous sensors and a berthing mechanism on the next Dragon mission. None of

SpaceX displayed the Dragon capsule in Washington last week. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Agency and company officials say the Dec. 8 orbital test of the Dragon spacecraft was successful. NASA has already paid a $5 million award for the milestone under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program, an agreement between the agency and firms developing resupply vehicles for the space station.

But NASA officials aren't quite ready to honor SpaceX's public request to combine its next two test flights into a single action-packed mission in July to prove the Dragon's ability to service the space station.

"There were a number of observations tracked during the flight that need to be resolved before the next one," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's commercial crew and cargo program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Nothing major, but certainly things that need to be addressed before SpaceX attempts the next demonstration flight."

Lindenmoyer said NASA and SpaceX are studying data from the mission in a process leading up to a flight readiness review before the next launch.

"There was nothing significant I think would hold up the next flight," Lindenmoyer said. "It's just a matter of routine engineering analysis that has to be done to correct those observations."

NASA has also asked SpaceX to submit a proposal to the agency verifying the spacecraft's ability to accomplish objectives of the second and third demonstration flights originally laid out several years ago.

"We've asked a number of technical questions," Lindenmoyer said. "Do they have the propellant performance, the margin, the capabilities, the timeline and the training? There are a lot of things that have to be done because this will be an extended mission. You have to accomplish all the objectives of the second flight. It involves breakout maneuvers, multiple approaches to the station, things that are normally done on any first flight of a new vehicle to the station."

The COTS plan calls for a second Dragon test flight to rendezvous with the space station before backing away. A third demo mission was supposed to proceed within about 30 feet of the complex, close enough for the station's robot arm to grapple the craft and attach it to one of the lab's berthing ports.

SpaceX wants to consolidate the two flights and fly the next mission to a berthing on the complex. The company says an all-in-one flight would accelerate SpaceX's 12 operational space station resupply missions under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

Combining the missions would require the Dragon to achieve the goals of both flights, including fuel-burning abort and retreat tests and extensive thruster firings. If the spacecraft is healthy and still has enough propellant, mission controllers could send the capsule closer to the space station for berthing.

The space agency expects final documentation from SpaceX in the "coming weeks," then NASA will be ready to decide on the flight test program.

"Is it technically possible? Are the crews properly trained? It spans different increment crews on-orbit, so that's a factor," Lindenmoyer said. "We had been planning for a longer period, and now we have to see if all of that planning can be done. Those are the things we're looking at right now."

Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, told Spaceflight Now last week there is not "any major question that Dragon can combine both missions."

NASA and SpaceX officials would not disclose what issues were observed during the Dragon test flight, which orbited Earth twice after launching on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The 9.5-foot-tall capsule splashed down under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean.

The growing space contractor is in the final stages of testing its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule for unmanned cargo delivery missions to the space station.

SpaceX expects to introduce solar panels, cargo racks, rendezvous sensors and a berthing mechanism on the next Dragon mission. None of those systems flew on the December flight.

"This hardware is almost through qualification and should be complete no later than June," said Kirstin Brost, a SpaceX spokesperson. "Then Dragon will go through a series of virtual mission simulations with flight hardware in the loop. SpaceX will be ready to launch this summer, pending final approval from NASA's space station safety review board."

SpaceX has invested about $600 million in the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, according to Tim Hughes, the company's vice president and general counsel.

Musk says it will cost about $1 billion to modify and test the Dragon capsule for astronaut crews.

Human missions could begin in about three years, assuming SpaceX receives a NASA contract soon, according to SpaceX officials. those systems flew on the December flight.

"This hardware is almost through qualification and should be complete no later than June," said Kirstin Brost, a SpaceX spokesperson. "Then Dragon will go through a series of virtual mission simulations with flight hardware in the loop. SpaceX will be ready to launch this summer, pending final approval from NASA's space station safety review board."

SpaceX has invested about $600 million in the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, according to Tim Hughes, the company's vice president and general counsel.

Musk says it will cost about $1 billion to modify and test the Dragon capsule for astronaut crews.

Human missions could begin in about three years, assuming SpaceX receives a NASA contract soon, according to SpaceX officials.

NASA astronaut hopes to stage ‘out of this world’ concert

London, Feb 11: A NASA astronaut is hoping to stage a concert that is literally out of this world, and plans on doing it with the help of Irish band The Chieftains and British band Jethro Tull.

Astronaut Catherine Coleman said she prefers to create music with other people, but unfortunately she is the only flautist among the six aboard the International Space Station.

Coleman, who said she enjoyed creating her “own little world” with music, has now decided to put flute music on in the background, and play along before she returns to Earth in May.

She blasted off Kazakhstan in December for a six-month period orbiting the earth, and she took along a priceless Irish concert flute, given to her by a man who is considered to be a star himself by traditional music lovers.

Chieftains’ flute-player Matt Molloy met the NASA astronaut, nicknamed Cady, more than 10 years ago after playing at a concert in Houston, Texas, and after the gig, they took part as usual in a session with local musicians.

“It transpired that Cady played the flute, and we have been friends ever since,” the BBC quoted him as saying.

About Alien's life?

At least not at the planetary level. But whether there are intelligent beings on other planets remains one of humanity’s great unanswered questions.

The issue of life elsewhere in the cosmos captured new attention when NASA revealed some of the latest findings from its Kepler telescope. Launched in 2009, Kepler’s focus has been to seek out planetary systems elsewhere in the galaxy.

And it has been remarkably successful, more so than many astronomers ever expected. NASA announced recently that more than 1,200 possible planets have been discovered to date — 54 of which are at a distance from their suns that make them candidates for hosting life.

Eventually, and probably soon, scientists expect to identify specific Earth-sized planets. But that’s just a first step. Determining whether such planets host life will be a more difficult matter to resolve.

And if intelligent life is found elsewhere, then what? From a practical standpoint, communications between planets is improbable, because of the years it would take for even basic messages to transmit. Actual travel to these planets is even less feasible.

GM and NASA’s R2 humanoid robot to debut on Super Bowl Sunday

On Sunday, millions of viewers across the globe will be able to watch the television debut of GM's and NASA's dexterous humanoid robot called Robonaut 2 or R2 during the Super Bowl pre-game show on Fox network.

R2 has been developed by NASA and General Motors via a Space Act Agreement using the latest technology after its predecessor Robonaut 1. Due to edge control, sensor and vision technologies installed, these futuristic humanoid robots are capable of working side-by-side with people, helping astronauts during hazardous space missions and helping GM build safer cars and plants.

The new robot has significant technical developments over its predecessor with around 4 times faster speed range. The advanced technology spanning the model includes optimized overlapping dual arm dexterous workspace, extended finger and thumb travel, redundant force sensing, series elastic joint technology, miniaturized 6-axis load cells, ultra-high speed joint controllers, extreme neck travel, and high resolution camera and IR systems.

Both GM and NASA have developed the current iteration of Robonaut taking the help of engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston. R2 will initially be operated inside the Destiny laboratory for operational testing, but over time its applications are likely to expand.

Gas Leak Forces NASA Evacuation

A day after the Space Shuttle Discovery reached its launch pad, a gas leak early this morning forced NASA to evacuate hundreds of people from several Kennedy Space Center buildings, according to the AP.

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told the AP that the leak occurred when a backhoe struck a natural gas line. There were no injuries or damages and NASA staff have since returned to work.

After the leak was discovered, workers were evacuated from several key facilities, including the Orbiter Processing Facilities, hangars housing the space shuttles Atlantis and Endeavor. While crews are currently repairing the natural gas line, it's unclear whether the incident will impact the scheduled February 24 launch date.

This isn't the first time a gas leak has stymied the Discovery. In November, hydrogen gas leaks—alongside inopportune weather—delayed the launch. Cracks in the shuttle's external fuel tank pushed liftoff into the New Year, with a target February 3 launch. By early January, however, the date moved again as NASA reported that crack repairs, modifications, and checks had moved launch to February 24.

The troubles haven't just been technical, either. On January 20 astronaut Tim Kopra took a spill on a weekend biking jaunt, requiring astronaut Steve Bowe to step in as his replacement. If the past several months are any indication, Kopra will have ample time to recover before Discovery discovers anything other than its launch pad.

Last week NASA marked the 25th Anniversary of the Challenger disaster. The final mission, the 135th launch of the Atlantis Shuttle, is set for June 28—this year or next.

Shuttle Discovery returns to launch pad after tank repairs

 With repairs to its external tank complete, engineers began hauling the shuttle Discovery back to launch pad 39A Monday evening for work to ready the ship for blastoff Feb. 24 on a flight to deliver critical spare parts, supplies and a final U.S. module to the International Space Station.

Carried by a powerful crawler-transporter, Discovery and its mobile launch platform began slowly rolling out of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at 7:58 p.m. EST, witnessed by scores of Kennedy Space Center workers who gathered nearby to watch what is expected to be Discovery's final trip to the pad. The shuttle reached the launch complex and was secured at 2:53 a.m. Tuesday.

"I have full confidence we've done everything we need to do on that tank," Stephanie Stilson, the engineer in charge of Discovery's ground processing, told CBS News. "Seeing those guys work and knowing how hard they worked to do the modifications, I have confidence in the way the shuttle program works and the fact that they're always investigating and asking more questions, more so than I've ever heard in the past."

Shuttle program managers plan to conduct a flight readiness review Feb. 10, followed by an executive-level review by senior NASA managers Feb. 18. Assuming no additional problems develop, the agency hopes to restart Discovery's countdown at 3 p.m. Feb. 21, setting the stage for launch Feb. 24 at 4:50:19 p.m.

NASA originally hoped to launch Discovery on its 39th and final flight Nov. 1, but the mission was repeatedly delayed, first by relatively minor technical problems that pushed launch to Nov. 5 and then by a gaseous hydrogen leak in a vent arm attached to the external tank.

The hydrogen leak was quickly resolved, but engineers also discovered cracks in structural rib-like "stringers" in the shuttle's external tank that triggered what turned into a nearly four-month delay.

The stringers are used in the ribbed "intertank" compartment of the external tank that separates the liquid oxygen and hydrogen sections. Engineers initially found four stress-relief fractures in two adjacent stringers on the side of the tank facing the shuttle that apparently were the result of exposure to the extreme low temperature -- minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit -- of liquid oxygen.

Engineers repaired those cracks at the pad by splicing in pristine stringer segments and attaching "doublers" to provide additional strength.

After an instrumented fueling test Dec. 18, Discovery was hauled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for X-ray inspections of the backside of the tank, which engineers could not carry out at the pad. Additional cracks were found in three stringers, prompting NASA managers to order installation of "radius-block" doublers on most of the remaining intertank stringers.

A detailed analysis of the cracks found to that point indicated manufacturing tolerance issues and problems with a specific batch of aluminum-lithium alloy used in most of the 108 intertank stringers that left them more brittle than usual and more susceptible to stress-relief fractures.

Testing showed the radius-block modifications would provide the required margin of safety, easing concerns about the tank's structural integrity and the possible loss of foam insulation during the climb out of the dense lower atmosphere that could pose a threat to the shuttle's fragile heat shield.

When all was said and done, the five cracked stringers were repaired using a combination of doublers and radius blocks and 94 were modified with radius blocks alone. Nine stringers were not modified, one because of access issues and eight others because they were made from a different lot of aluminum-lithium alloy.

As if the crack problem wasn't enough of a headache for NASA, one of Discovery's crew members -- flight engineer Timothy Kopra -- was injured in a bicycle mishap in Houston Jan. 15. He was replaced by veteran astronaut Stephen Bowen, who will take Kopra's place in two planned space walks.

Bowen and his crewmates -- commander Steven Lindsey, pilot Eric Boe, Nicole Stott, Michael Barratt and spacewalker Alvin Drew -- plan to fly to the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 20 for the start of their countdown to launch.

First Ever Whole Sun View-Coming Soon....from STEREO

“For the first time in the history of humankind we will be able to see the front and the far side of the sun … Simultaneously,” Madhulika Guhathakurta told Universe Today. Guhathakurta is the STEREO Program Scientist at NASA HQ.

Courtesy of NASA’s solar duo of STEREO spacecraft. And the noteworthy event is timed to coincide just perfectly with ‘Super Bowl SUNday’ – Exactly one week from today on Feb. 6 during Super Bowl XLV !

“This will be the first time we can see the entire Sun at one time,” said Dean Pesnell, NASA Solar Astrophysicist in an interview for Universe Today. Pesnell is the Project Scientist for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory at the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, MD.

This remarkable milestone will be achieved when NASA’s two STEREO spacecraft reach position 180 degrees separate on opposite sides of the Sun on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011 and can observe the entire 360 degrees of the Sun.

“We are going to celebrate by having a football game that night!” Pesnell added in jest.

The nearly identical STEREO spacecraft – dubbed STEREO Ahead and STEREO Behind – are orbiting the sun in opposite directions and providing a more complete picture of the Suns environment with each passing day. One probe follows Earth around the sun; the other one leads us.

STEREO is the acronym for Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory. Their mission is to provide the very first, 3-D “stereo” images of the sun to study the nature of coronal mass ejections.The nearly identical STEREO spacecraft – dubbed STEREO Ahead and STEREO Behind – are orbiting the sun in opposite directions and providing a more complete picture of the Suns environment with each passing day. One probe follows Earth around the sun; the other one leads us.

STEREO is the acronym for Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory. Their mission is to provide the very first, 3-D “stereo” images of the sun to study the nature of coronal mass ejections.

Today, (Jan 30) the twin STEREO spacecraft are 179.1 degrees apart and about 90 degrees from Earth, and thus virtually at the midpoint to the back of the sun. See the orbital location graphics above and below.

Both probes were flung into space some four years ago and have been hurtling towards this history making date and location ever since. The wedge of unseen solar territory has been declining.

As the STEREO probes continue flying around to the back side of the sun, the wedge of unseen solar territory on the near side will be increasing and the SDO solar probe will play a vital gap filling role.

“SDO provides the front side view of the sun with exquisite details and very fast time resolution,” Gutharka told me. For the next 8 years, when combined with SDO data, the full solar sphere will still be visible.

2012 Beginning of the End to the world!

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice.

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we're frequently asked regarding 2012.

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Q: Could a phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

Shuttle Discovery Prepares Final Launch in February 2011

Space shuttle Discovery’s team are preparing for an upcoming launch. The space shuttle’s planned move to the launch pad 39A from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) will take place on Monday, Jan. 31. The Discovery’s International Space Station final flight, the STS-133 mission, is scheduled for February 24, 2011, before it enters retirement.

NASA engineers at the VAB completed replacement of shuttle’s mechanical parts and fuel tank modifications. Operations are underway to transport it to Launch Pad 39A as scheduled.

The distance from the VAB to the launch pad is approximately 3.4 miles. A giant crawler will transport the shuttle. Scientists anticipate the three-mile journey to continue the span of about six hours.

The final mission for the Discovery will last roughly 11 days, delivering and installing the Permanent Multipurpose Module and other spare critical modules for the space station. At some stage in the mission, the Discovery will also deliver components to the Express Logistics Carrier 4, which is the exterior platform where the larger equipment is stored. One of the final stages of the mission involves the Discovery delivering the Robonaut 2, commonly referred to as R2. The R2 will become the first multiple intelligence type robot to permanently reside at the International Space Station.

In November, the first attempt to launch the Discovery was cancelled due to a gaseous hydrogen leak. The shuttle was returned to the VAB for x rays and repairs, readying it for the scheduled launch in February.

Upon completion of this mission, the Space Shuttle Discovery will have made 39 flights during its active time in the space program.

NASA has authorized live coverage and plans to air highlights of the first movement on the agency’s television video file.

NASA Ends 30 Years of Shuttle Flights

 The Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch from Cape Kennedy in February to begin its final journey into space. The mission, the 133rd of the Shuttle fleet, is one of only three remaining flights in a program that has spanned three decades and sent over 300 humans into space. Since 1981, five Space Shuttle Orbiters have carried communications, defense and scientific satellites into space, acted as orbiting laboratories for scientific, medical and technological research and have been posts for observing Earth weather patterns as well as climate and ecological changes. Space shuttles have brought the Hubble telescope to orbit, built the International Space Station (ISS) and helped humans learn to live and work in the harshest and most unforgiving environment they have ever faced.

A presidential mandate in 2004, following the disintegration of Columbia, instructed NASA to retire the Shuttle by 2010 and begin work on a program to send humans back to the moon. NASA developed Project Constellation and successfully test-launched the new Ares rocket in October 2009. Unfortunately, President George W. Bush failed to provide the funding needed to reach the goals he had set. When President Obama and the Augustine Commission reviewed the Bush plans, they considered them unfeasible under the current NASA budget. Rather than providing the funding necessary, however, Obama canceled Constellation and sent NASA in a "New Direction" wherein private companies would begin developing the next generation earth-orbit launch vehicle, allowing NASA to focus on designing more advanced spacecraft to reach deep space.

The Obama plan faced much criticism because of its vague and distant goals and reliance on foreign nations to send humans to the ISS. Many NASA employees, past and present, expressed concerns that the private sector is not advanced enough to conduct spaceflight operations yet. Some astronauts who have come out in support of the plan — most notably Buzz Aldrin, who, along with Neil Armstrong, became one of the first men to land on the moon in 1969 — have emphasized its importance to the private sector as a driving force for American business and ingenuity.

Recent attempts in Congress to alter the "New Direction" plan, combined with the results of the 2010-midterm elections, leave the future of American spaceflight very much in question. Recent successes in the private spaceflight sector show some hope for this plan, but without any specific goals and far too much reliance on a new industry, NASA is on thin ice. For the first time in American history, we will be ending a manned space program without having one to take its place. At this crucial turning point, it is important to look back at the Shuttle and the programs before it, to honor their contributions to this nation and the world and to emphasize the importance of scientific discovery, research and exploration to humanity. All this is best expressed through the words of the select few who have traveled beyond our planet.

Should astronauts get bad news in space?

Astronaut Daniel Tani was orbiting 200 miles above Earth when he learned his mother had died in a car accident. So he sent a video message for the funeral.

Astronaut Vladimir Dezhurov was on board the Russian space station Mir when he learned of his mother's death. He was despondent for days.

And on Jan. 8, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly was commanding the International Space Station when he learned someone in Arizona had shot his sister-in-law, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

'We have a unique vantage point here aboard the International Space Station,' Kelly said, in commenting about the tragedy: 'As I look out the window, I see a very beautiful planet that seems very inviting and peaceful. Unfortunately, it is not.'

Losses, both gentle and tragic, are a little-discussed challenge of space travel that will become increasingly important if NASA moves ahead with plans to send astronauts on longer-than-ever journeys, such as a trip to an asteroid or Mars.

On long space missions, astronauts may hear the news that makes people feel most alone — such as losing a parent — at the very time they are most alone.

NASA has already found itself in a predicament: Do you tell astronauts of the disasters down below or keep quiet?

Tell them, says George Abbey, former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, which is home to Mission Control.

'They need to be straightforward and honest with crews on orbit. They need to recognize that these individuals are professional and situations do develop,' said Abbey, now a space policy expert at the Baker Institute at Houston's Rice University.

In the case of the Arizona shootings, it's clear Kelly was informed. In fact, he sent a Twitter message about it on the day it happened.

Even if NASA wanted to, it couldn't easily put a lid on bad news because the information explosion has extended into space. These days, astronauts communicate with their families by e-mail and phone calls.

Still, former NASA astronaut Norman Thagard has seen what bad news can do to a person in space.

Thagard was on board the Russian space station Mir in 1995 when the Russian commander, Dezhurov, learned his mother had died unexpectedly. 'It really did get to him. He basically just went to himself for about two to three days. … Our flight engineer urged him to eat and urged him to start being active again,' said Thagard, a retired associate dean of Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering.

Thagard said it's probably best for astronauts to let NASA managers know in advance whether they would like to get bad news immediately while in space or later on the ground.

The business of human space flight is poised for three big trends. One is the coming era of commercial space flights. Another is the new countries getting into space travel. The third is that the U.S. is planning to send humans farther into space than ever before.

The Bush administration planned to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually on to Mars. The Obama administration has replaced that plan with a more amorphous one but still promises to send humans on unprecedented journeys. One is a potential trip to an asteroid, a journey that could last six months. A trip to Mars and back could take three years.

Dealing with bad news isn't something you can train for completely, said Pat Duggins, a radio journalist and author of 'Trailblazing Mars: NASA's Next Giant Leap.'

Duggins says a radio transmission to Mars takes 10 minutes. So imagine: You are one of three humans in a spaceship on the red planet.

Nasa adds new shuttle flight

Nasa does not yet know where it will get the money, but the space agency has added another shuttle launch to its schedule – the final one for the fleet.

The agency set a target launch date of June 28 for shuttle Atlantis and started preparations for the 135th and last shuttle flight.

The four-member crew will take up supplies to the International Space Station, make one spacewalk, and return a faulty pump that has bedevilled engineers.

Now three missions remain before Nasa retires its shuttle fleet this year. Shuttle Discovery’s last mission is planned for February 24, Endeavour’s in April.

The decision allows different parts of the shuttle programme to start work on Atlantis’ 12-day flight, including astronaut training and mission planning, Nasa spokesman Michael Curie said.

Originally Atlantis was planned as an emergency-only rescue mission if needed for the Endeavour crew.

Last year, the Obama administration and the US Congress clashed over the future of the human space programme and came up with a compromise that authorised one extra shuttle flight – the Atlantis mission. But congress never gave Nasa the few hundred million dollars needed for the extra flight, leaving the agency in a quandary about whether the flight was real or not.

The initial money is coming from the space shuttle programme’s regular budget, but that is not the big amounts needed for a shuttle flight, Mr Curie says.

“We’re optimistic that the funding will be there,” he said, but he could not give details about where the money would come from.

Nasa was pressed to start preparations or the Atlantis mission would not have been able to launch in late June, Mr Curie said.

The final flight will be commanded by Christopher Ferguson and includes Douglas Hurley, Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.

The extra flight means that Mark Kelly – the husband of Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, shot in an attempted assassination – will not command the final shuttle flight even if he stays on the Endeavour mission.

With his wife’s expected long rehabilitation, Mr Kelly asked for a back-up commander to be named in case he could not fly as scheduled in April.

Japanese rocket Stork 2 heads to space station with six tons of supplies

From its launch pad on a remote island, a Japanese rocket hurtled into the sky today in a plume of white smoke.

The unmanned Kounotori 2 (Stork 2 in Japanese) is carrying six tons of supplies for the astronauts on the orbiting International Space Station.

Applause broke out at the control centre on the southern Tanegashima Island as officials announced that the launch phase was a success.

The Kounotori - carrying food, water, clothing and experimental equipment including cargo for Nasa - is expected to rendezvous with the space station next Thursday.

It will be grappled by the station's robotic arm and docked to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module.

After dropping off the cargo and being loaded up with waste material, the rocket will be detached and burn itself up upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

The mission is designed to help fill a hole left by the shutdown of Nasa's space shuttle programme.

JAXA, Japan's space agency, hopes the project will help it build expertise for similar low-cost ferrying missions and push forward Japan's own manned flights.

Missions for the International Space Station have become more important now that the U.S. has scaled back its ability to launch supplies.

Since 2009, the station has been manned by six astronauts in an international project involving 15 nations. But keeping them fed and supplied has become a big challenge.

Space Shuttle Program Baselines STS-135

On Thursday, the Space Shuttle Program baselined the STS-135 mission for a target launch date of June 28. It is NASA's intent to fly the mission with orbiter Atlantis carrying the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station.

The mission also will fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and return a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems.

In late December, the agency's Space Operations Mission Directorate requested the shuttle and International Space Station programs take the necessary steps to maintain the capability to fly Atlantis on the STS-135 mission.

 

The Authorization Act of 2010 directs NASA to conduct the mission, and baselining the flight enables the program to begin preparations for the mission with a target launch date of June 28. The mission would be the 135th and final space shuttle flight.

Prepping for the next shuttle mission, STS-133, continues in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where technicians are making good progress in their work to modify the stringers on Discovery's external fuel tank.

Discovery and its six astronauts are targeted to launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station on Feb. 24.

Having been joined by their newest crew member, Steve Bowen, Discovery's astronauts will review robotics procedures and review spacewalk timelines at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Bowen, who flew into space on STS-132 in May 2010, will be the first astronaut to fly on consecutive missions.

NASA Challenges Students To Train Like an Astronaut

NASA's Human Research Program is sponsoring the U.S. component of the international challenge that began Tuesday. Teams of students between eight and 12 years old will learn principles of healthy eating, exercise and compete for points by finishing training modules. Students also will practice scientific reasoning and teamwork while participating in hands-on training that targets strength, endurance, coordination, balance and spatial awareness. The exercises will involve the same types of skills astronauts learn during training for spaceflights.

"A part of the human space exploration mission is to inspire our youth to stay in school and master professions in the sciences and engineering fields to carry on this important work well into the 21st century," said Charles Lloyd, NASA's Human Research Program Education and Outreach Project manager. "We believe this starts with our youth in elementary school. We hope this international fitness challenge will assist them with that lifelong endeavor."

Mission X challenges students to be more physically active; increases awareness of the importance of lifelong health and conditioning; teaches students how fitness plays a vital role in human performance for exploration; and inspires and motivates students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The U.S., Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Colombia, Spain and United Kingdom are hosting teams for the challenge. Team USA is hosted by the College Station Independent School District (ISD) in College Station, Texas. It consists of more than 800 fourth-grade students. After six weeks of training, the U.S. challenge will culminate in a March 24th event, called the Fit Explorer Hometown Hullabaloo, to celebrate the students' success.

"Mission X is an exciting way to actively involve students in learning the importance of nutrition and physical fitness," said Becky Burghardt, director for curriculum, College Station ISD. "Children are fascinated by the training experiences of astronauts and are motivated to mirror what real-life astronauts do to prepare for space missions. Teachers and administrators are hopeful the rich science and physical education experiences designed by NASA will help students become aware of the importance of living a healthy lifestyle."

A Private Space Shuttle Replacement

Once the space-shuttle program ends this year, the only way to get people into orbit and to the International Space Station will be to buy seats on Russia's three-person Soyuz capsules. So NASA, through its Commercial Crew Development program, has given $50 million in grants to companies developing new spacecraft capable of carrying people and supplies into orbit and to the space station.

The recipient of the biggest chunk of this money was the Sierra Nevada Corporation, which received $20 million to develop the Dream Chaser. This spacecraft, the size of a business jet, will take cargo and up to eight people into low Earth orbit, where the space station is located, and then return and land on commercial airport runways.

The company reached all its development milestones for the Dream Chaser last year and is now finishing a battery of tests on the craft's carbon-composite frame. The shell of the spacecraft must be able to endure heavy loads and intense vibrations. So the Dream Chaser frame has been mounted on an earthquake simulator in a lab at the University of Colorado in Boulder. So far, the design has performed as expected, says Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada's Space Systems division. At facilities in San Diego, the company has been testing the craft's hybrid rocket motors. In the coming months, the company will put the two together to complete a full prototype, carry it into the air, and drop it to see how it flies.

Other orbital spacecraft under development by companies including SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, and Boeing are capsules that will use parachutes to descend on land or in the sea. The Dream Chaser has a lifting body design; it looks something like an airplane without the large wings on the side. Its shape, in combination with extensible wheels and motors, will enable it to make a controlled landing on a runway. Sirangelo says that the craft will therefore be able to land on the ground in more places than other vehicles can, and that the gravitational forces to which it will expose passengers—and sensitive cargo and scientific instruments—will be less intense.

If the company continues to achieve its testing and development milestones, the Dream Chaser will be launched into orbit in 2014 on the nose of a powerful launch booster, the Atlas V, made by United Launch Alliance. After it reaches orbit, the craft will be dropped, and its hybrid motors will be used to adjust its orbit or dock it to a space station. These motors will also be used to guide it to its gentle landings.

Sierra Nevada, which also makes satellites, sensors, and other components, did not design the Dream Chaser from the ground up. In the 1970s, the Soviets tested a vehicle like it, known as the Bor-4. The crew of an Australian ship photographed it, and NASA used the image to reverse-engineer a similar craft. The resulting design, NASA's HL-20, underwent significant development and testing and was intended to be a lifeboat for astronauts aboard the space station. But the HL-20 program lapsed.

NASA's Week of Surprises for Shuttle Crew

The events of the last two Saturdays have stunned NASA in a way the space agency could never anticipated. Mark Kelly, Endeavour's commander for the space shuttle mission in April, found himself on the way to Arizona where his wife, Rep, Gabrielle Giffords, was critically injured in a shooting. Kelly, at his wife's bedside while she fights for recovery, asked NASA to name a backup commander, Rick Sturckow, for Kelly's mission.

This past weekend, astronaut Tim Kopra was injured during a bicycle ride. The extent of his injuries has not been released, but they are serious enough to have mission managers scrambling to consider who could take his place on the STS 133 mission, Discovery's oft-delayed final flight, whispacewalkerch is tentatively scheduled to launch next month.

NASA's choices: Wait for Kopra to heal from his injuries, or replace him on the mission. Kopra has been training for his two spacewalks for well over a year -- his mission was originally scheduled to fly in September 2010 and it was once the last space shuttle flight before the fleet was retired.

Astronauts give up anything risky when they start training for a flight -- no car racing, no sky diving, no scuba diving, no mountain climbing. Drew Feustel, who flew on the last mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, had to indulge his love for fast cars on the sidelines, watching his sons' race. Scott Parazynksi climbed Mount Everest only after he retired from the astronaut corps.

The training for a space mission is intense, so intense the astronauts become a second family.

Their commander for this next mission, Steve Lindsey, told ABC News working as a team is critical to the success of the mission. "You have to know that you can count on each other when things don't go as planned, and in contingency situations knowing that you have a team you can count on is important."

Al Drew is the other spacewalker on the mission. He admires Kopra not only for his spacewalking skill, but for his impish sense of humor. They are both members of the same rookie class of 2001, known as the bug class in honor of Y2K.

NASA observes moment of silence for Tucson shooting victims

Commander Scott Kelly, Gabrielle Giffords' brother-in-law, led a moment of silence through NASA at the International Space Station.

"The crew of ISS Expedition 26 and the flight control centers around the world would like to observe a moment of silence in honor of all the victims, which include my sister-in-law Gabrielle Giffords, a caring and dedicated public servant," said Commander Kelly.

Kelly is in charge of a six-person team at the ISS.

Kelly's twin brother, Mark, is Giffords' husband, and was scheduled to lead the final space shuttle mission in April. His participation in the mission is in doubt because of the tragedy.

NASA: ISS Crew in space observe national moment of silence

"At Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and aboard the International Space Station, flight controllers and the Expedition 26 crew paused to observe a National Moment of Silence Jan. 10, 2011. The event was held for the victims of the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 8 that left six people dead and more than a dozen wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Station Commander Scott Kelly, Giffords' brother-in-law, led the station crew in its observance from 220 miles above the Earth."

Shooting rampage could affect timing of shuttle mission

 NASA's final space shuttle mission could be affected by the shooting rampage Saturday in Arizona that left six dead and 13 wounded.

Mark Kelly, an astronaut slated to command the final mission of shuttle Endeavor on April 1, is the husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who remained in critical condition Sunday after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head.

Doctors said they were cautiously optimistic about Giffords' recovery after she was responsive to simple commands. A bullet passed directly through Giffords' brain, from back to front, doctors said at a news conference.

Kelly has been participating in a rigorous training schedule leading up to his role as commander of the shuttle mission. He is currently in Arizona with his family, and it was not clear if he would return to training.

There are typically no backup crews assigned for the shuttle missions, said NASA spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters.

NASA officials have made no alternate plans for the April 1 mission because Kelly's participation has not yet come into question, Cloutier-Lemasters said.

"It's just too early to speculate what might come with that," she said. "Everybody's just focused on taking care of them and supporting them."

Kelly's longtime friend, Todd Fertitta of Landry's Restaurants in Galveston, said today Kelly was shaken by the shooting.

"Mark's a very, very strong person but at times like this it's testing for anybody," Fertitta said. "I mean he's just very upset."

Fertitta said Kelly would use his charisma and personal strength to help support his family. Although it was unclear how Giffords would recover, Fertitta said she would not want Kelly to jeopardize his place on Endeavor.

"Gabby would want him on that mission," Fertitta said. "She loved what he did, and she loved what he did for NASA."

Kelly's brother, Scott Kelly, is also an astronaut and is currently serving as commander of the International Space Station.

In a Twitter message from space today, Scott Kelly said, "I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers, words of condolences and encouragement for the victims and their families."

Friends said the Giffords family had received an outpouring of support from NASA and the nation.

 Kelly, who lives in League City, trains up to 10 hours daily for his shuttle mission while his wife works in Washington, D.C. and Tuscon, Ariz. The couple have a strong bond and have fed off of each others' successes, friends said.