May 14 2012
From The Space Library
RELEASE: 12-156 EXPEDITION 31 TRIO BLASTS OFF FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
HOUSTON -- NASA Flight Engineer Joseph Acaba, Russian Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin blasted off for the International Space Station at 10:01 p.m. CDT Monday, May 14 (9:01 a.m. Baikonur time on May 15), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Acaba, Padalka and Revin are scheduled to dock their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft to the Poisk module of the station at 11:38 p.m. Wednesday, May 16. They will join Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Flight Engineers Don Pettit of NASA and AndrT Kuipersof the European Space Agency, who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since Dec. 23, 2011. The six astronauts and cosmonauts will work together for about two months. NASA Television will provide live docking coverage beginning at 11 p.m. on May 16. Hatch opening and welcoming ceremonies will occur about three hours later on May 17. Upon arrival, Acaba, Padalka and Revin will become members of the Expedition 31 crew, restoring the station's crew complement to six and continuing scientific research aboard the station. Pettit, Kononeko and Kuipers are scheduled to return to Earth on July 1. Acaba, Padalka and Revin will return home in mid-September. Also on board with the crew was a small "Smokey Bear" plush toy serving as the traditional Soyuz "talisman." Smokey Bear is the U.S. national symbol for wildfire prevention. Prior to the flight, Acaba explained he proposed flying Smokey Bear in an effort to raise awareness of human-caused wildfires. Acaba, an avid outdoorsman, holds two degrees in geology and served as an environmental education awareness promoter while in the U.S. Peace Corps.
CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-019 NASA MODIFIES LAUNCH SERVICE CONTRACT TO ADD FALCON 9 ROCKET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has announced a modification of its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., to add an additional configuration of the Falcon 9 rocket to its fleet. The SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch service will be available to the agency's Launch Services Program to use for future missions in accordance with the on-ramp provision of NLS II. The NLS II on-ramp provision provides an annual opportunity for new launch service providers to compete for future missions and allows existing launch service providers to introduce launch vehicles not currently on their NLS II contracts.The NLS II contracts are multiple award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts with ordering periods through June 2020. The NLS II contracts support the goals and objectives of the agency's Science Mission Directorate, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, and the Office of the Chief Technologist. Under the contract, NASA also can provide launch services to other government agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Launch Services Program Office at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for program management.
