Jun 7 2011
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-113 STUDENTS BUILD SPACE HABITATS AT NASA'S Johnson Space Center
HOUSTON --University students are helping NASA develop potential habitats for future space missions. Three teams from across the country will visit NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston during June to show off the inflatable space lofts they've designed and built for the inaugural eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge. One of the habitats will be chosen to participate in NASA's annual Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert-RATS) field test in September, where it will be tested as part of a simulated astronaut mission to an asteroid. The winning team will receive $10,000 to offset costs associated with its participation. The three university teams will each spend one week in Houston setting up their habitat for judging. In June 2010, NASA invited university teams to submit inflatable loft concepts for the X-Hab Challenge. Three competing universities were chosen, and those teams received $48,000 of seed funding to assist with their projects. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, which in turn will help develop the next generation of innovators and explorers. It could also result in new concepts and solutions that NASA could apply to later exploration habitats. X-Hab is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and the Innovative Partnerships Office in the Office of the Chief Technologist at agency headquarters in Washington.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-115 NASA ANNOUNCES FINAL SHUTTLE MISSION PREVIEW EVENTS
HOUSTON --NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston has scheduled briefings, interview opportunities and demonstrations to highlight the final space shuttle mission, targeted to launch on July 8. On June 30, NASA will hold news media briefings to preview the STS-135 mission and a news conference with the shuttle crew: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. NASA Television and the agency's website will carry the news briefings live. The schedule of activities includes (all times CDT): -- June 16: STS-135 crew and ascent flight control team training Journalists will have a behind-the-scenes look at the crew and Mission Control Center team training. There will be a photo opportunity of the crew getting into the motion-based simulator in launch and entry suits. Broadcast outlets can film on the floor of mission control for two launch simulations, with access to air-to-ground and flight director loop audio feeds. The training will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the crew, flight director, mission control team and trainers. -- June 17: STS-135 crew; shuttle and station flight control team rendezvous training Journalists will be allowed into the shuttle flight control room and the training version of the space station control room during a simulation of the shuttle's final docking to the International Space Station. Limited opportunities will be available to film the crew in the stationary shuttle simulator. July 1: Hands-on experience with shuttle mockups Journalists can tour shuttle mockups and simulators and meet mission support and training team members. Journalists will have access to the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, motion and fixed based trainers at the Jake Garn Training Facility, Shuttle Engineering Simulator dome, Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and Virtual Reality Lab. Activities will be available throughout the day. The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle mockup will again be available for touring. A switched video and audio feed of the training events, including video inside the simulator and mission control, will air on NASA TV.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-114 UNIQUE 'PORTRAIT' OF SHUTTLE AND International Space Station RELEASED
WASHINGTON -- Newly-released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade. The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station. The Soyuz landed in Kazakhstan and was taken to Moscow for routine post-landing analysis. NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, then processed the imagery as part of the standard disposition of spacecraft cargo. Additional images and high definition video are being processed and will be posted on NASA's website.
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