May 17 2013
From The Space Library
RELEASE: 13-146 - NASA SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS AT KENNEDY'S LAUNCH PAD 39A --WASHINGTON -- NASA released a synopsis Friday announcing plans to issue an announcement for proposals for the commercial use of Launch Pad 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The announcement is expected next week. Use of the launch pad by industry is designed to encourage commercial space activities along Florida's Space Coast and fully use the historic launch complex. Launch Pad 39A originally was designed to support NASA's Apollo Program and later was modified to launch space shuttles. Today, the agency is modernizing nearby Launch Pad 39B to support government and commercial launches, including NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, which will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. We remain committed to right-sizing our portfolio by reducing the number of facilities that are underused, duplicative, or not required to support the Space Launch System and Orion, said Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana. "Launch Complex 39A is not required to support our asteroid retrieval mission or our eventual missions to Mars. But it's in the agency's and our nation's best interest in meeting our commitment and direction to enable commercial space operations and allow the aerospace industry to operate and maintain the pad and related facilities." Assessments conducted by NASA show Launch Pad 39A could serve as a platform for a commercial space company's launch activities if the company assumes financial and technical responsibility of the complex's operations and management. Commercial use of the pad would further support NASA's goal to encourage the commercial use of property the agency does not need for the foreseeable future. Kennedy is positioning itself for the next era of space exploration, transitioning to a 21st century launch facility with multiple users, both private and government. A dynamic infrastructure is taking shape, designed to host many kinds of spacecraft and rockets capable of sending people on America's next adventures in space.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-081 - NASA TV COVERAGE SET FOR NEXT SOYUZ SPACE STATION CREW LAUNCH --WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will provide extensive coverage of the launch and docking of the next crew members who will fly to the International Space Station on Tuesday, May 28. Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency are scheduled to launch at 4:31 p.m. EDT (2:31 a.m. Kazakh time May 29), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They will dock their Soyuz capsule to the Earth-facing Rassvet module of the space station at 10:17 p.m. following an expedited four-orbit rendezvous. NASA TV coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m., and include video of all pre-launch activities that day leading to the crew boarding its spacecraft. Docking coverage begins at 9:30 p.m. At 11:55 p.m., hatches between the Soyuz and space station will open and Nyberg, Yurchikhin and Parmitano will be greeted by Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight engineer Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA. That trio has been aboard the station since late March. Hatch opening coverage begins at 11:30 p.m. Nyberg, Yurchikhin and Parmitano will remain aboard the station until mid-November. Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin will return to Earth in mid-September, leaving Yurchikhin as the Expedition 37 commander.
