Jan 24 2011
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-014 NASA REMEMBERS THOSE LOST PURSUING DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION
WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will lay a wreath at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia at 10 a.m. EST, Thursday, Jan. 27, to commemorate the agency's National Day of Remembrance. NASA has an agency-wide Day of Remembrance every January to honor the fallen crews of Apollo 1, space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and all of those who have given their lives in the cause of exploration. At 10:30 a.m., NASA's Kennedy Space Center Director and former astronaut Bob Cabana will take part in a wreath-laying at the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The ceremony is open to media representatives and the general public. At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Center Director Michael L. Coats will be joined by astronaut family members to lay a wreath at the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 27. Media representatives interested in covering the memorial should contact the Johnson newsroom by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 281-483-5111. Friday, Jan. 28, marks the 25th anniversary of the Challenger accident. At 9 a.m. EST, the Astronauts Memorial Foundation will hold a remembrance service honoring the STS-51L crew members at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. NASA Television will provide live coverage of the event, which will take place at the visitor complex's Space Mirror Memorial. Speakers at the event include Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Space Operations; June Scobee Rodgers, widow of STS-51L Commander Dick Scobee; Robert Cabana, former astronaut and director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center; and Michael McCulley, former astronaut and chairman of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. The Kennedy Visitor Complex will provide flowers for all ceremony guests and visitors throughout the day to place at the memorial. Challenger's seven astronauts died shortly after launch on Jan. 28, 1986. The crew consisted of Commander Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, and Ronald E. McNair, and Payload Specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and Sharon Christa McAuliffe. The Astronauts Memorial Foundation, a private, not-for-profit organization, built and maintains the Space Mirror Memorial. The memorial was dedicated in 1991 to honor all astronauts who lost their lives on missions or during training. It since has been designated a National Memorial by Congress.
RELEASE: 11-026 NASA EXPLORES POTENTIAL NEW USERS FOR SOME KENNEDY FACILITIES
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has released a formal Notice of Availability (NOA) and Request for Information (RFI) to identify interest from industry for space processing and support facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The facilities may become available for space-related commercial use following the end of the Space Shuttle Program. The facilities that may become available are well-suited for entities operating or directly supporting government or commercial launches or space user services. "Kennedy has been working for some time to enable commercial space activities at the center that are in line with NASA's mission," Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana said. "Partnering with the commercial space industry will help NASA meet its goals and help sustain facility assets to support our nation's space objectives." The announcement groups facilities into four classes: space vehicle processing and launch facilities; off-line processing facilities; payload processing facilities; and miscellaneous facilities. Facilities listed in the announcement include: Launch Pads 39A and B, the Vehicle Assembly Building, Orbiter Processing Facilities and the Shuttle Landing Facility. NASA reserves the right to subsequently remove facilities from this list if the agency determines it needs them for its own requirements. NASA also may pursue other options for disposition of the listed facilities if in the government's best interests. NASA has received previous commercial interest in some of the facilities at the center. This notice is another step in efforts to build awareness with industry about potentially available center assets. It was issued to provide the widest notice about facilities and to ensure fairness to interested parties.
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