Mar 10 2009
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(New page: NASA announced the successful completion of a test firing of the igniter designed to start the Ares-I rocket’s first-stage motor. The firing took place at ATK Launch Systems test...)
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NASA announced the successful completion of a test firing of the igniter designed to start the Ares-I rocket’s first-stage motor. The firing took place at ATK Launch Systems test facilities near Promontory, Utah. The successful test of the igniter, which was an enhanced version of the flight-proven igniter used in Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters, marked a milestone in the continuing development of the Ares-I first stage and paved the way for the first ground test, scheduled to occur later in 2009. Engineers had designed the Ares-I igniter to take advantage of upgraded liner and insulation materials with improved thermal properties. The materials would protect the igniter’s case from the burning solid propellant. The new igniter, approximately 18 inches (45.7 centimeters) in diameter and 36 inches (91.4 centimeters) long, was a small, high- burn-rate solid rocket motor designed to be secured in the forward segment of the five-segment booster. An ignition command would send a flame down the core of the 142-foot (43.3-meter) solid rocket motor, generating more than 3.5 million pounds (1.59 million kilograms) of thrust to trigger liftoff of the rocket.
NASA, “NASA’s Ares I Rocket First Stage Igniter Successfully Tested,” news release 09-055, 10 March 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/mar/HQ_09055_ARES_igniter_test.html (accessed 4 May 2011).
ISS Expedition 18 Commander E. Michael Fincke and cosmonaut Yuri V. Lonchakov successfully completed all scheduled tasks in a spacewalk lasting almost 5 hours. Fincke and Lonchakov installed EXPOSE-R (studies of exobiological processes in outer space), a joint European-Russian scientific experiment involving biological materials. They placed the experiment outside the Zvezda service module, which astronauts had been unable to activate during a December spacewalk because of an internal cable problem. NASA astronaut Sandra H. Magnus assisted in the installation of EXPOSE-R from inside the ISS. Fincke and Lonchakov also rotated a container holding a scientific experiment involving Russian materials and trimmed a set of six straps positioned near the Pirs docking compartment, to prevent their interference with incoming Russian vehicles needing to dock. In addition, they photographed the Zvezda module, as part of a survey to assess its condition after nine years in orbit. The spacewalk was Lonchakov’s second, Fincke’s sixth, and their second spacewalk as a team. Fincke had undertaken all of his six spacewalks wearing a Russian spacesuit.
James Dean, “Live in Orbit: ISS Spacewalk Complete,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 11 March 2009; Tariq Malik, “Spacewalkers Upgrade Space Station,” Space.com, 10 March 2009, http://www.space.com/6396-spacewalkers-upgrade-space-station.html (accessed 12 May 2011).
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