Apr 5 2016
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY 16-042 John Grunsfeld Announces Retirement from NASA
John Grunsfeld will retire from NASA April 30, capping nearly four decades of science and exploration with the agency. His tenure includes serving as astronaut, chief scientist, and head of NASA’s Earth and space science activities.
Grunsfeld has directed NASA’s Science Mission Directorate as associate administrator since 2012, managing more than 100 science missions -- many of which have produced groundbreaking science, findings and discoveries.
“John leaves an extraordinary legacy of success that will forever remain a part of our nation’s historic science and exploration achievements," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. “Widely known as the ‘Hubble Repairman,’ it was an honor to serve with him in the astronaut corps and watch him lead NASA's science portfolio during a time of remarkable discovery. These are discoveries that have rewritten science textbooks and inspired the next generation of space explorers."
Geoff Yoder, currently the directorate’s deputy, will serve as acting associate administrator until a successor is named.
“After exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life in the universe, I can now boldly go where I’ve rarely gone before – home,” said Grunsfeld. “I’m grateful to have had this extraordinary opportunity to lead NASA science, and know that the agency is well-positioned to make the next giant leaps in exploration and discovery.”
Notable science achievements under Grunsfeld’s leadership include the Curiosity rover Mars landing in 2012 – and its remarkable discoveries about the habitability of ancient Mars – and the July 2015 New Horizons Pluto flyby, completing the initial reconnaissance of the solar system.
Grunsfeld managed numerous missions to protect and study our home planet, including the Deep Space Climate Observatory, Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, and Global Precipitation Measurement spacecraft, in addition to numerous Earth science aircraft campaigns. These and other projects have laid the foundation for future missions to better understand how Earth is changing.
Grunsfeld has also been a strong advocate for research with suborbital rockets, high-altitude balloon flights and CubeSats, to enable great science and train the next generation of explorers.
Preparations are well underway for a host of other missions and activities that will continue Grunsfeld’s work. These include the first U.S. mission to return a sample of an asteroid, the first mission to look for signs of life on Jupiter’s moon Europa, a mission to study the sun closer than ever before, participating in a national space weather strategy, and constructing the next rover to Mars, scheduled to launch in 2020.
Additionally, NASA’s fleet of robotic spacecraft are exploring the solar system and beyond, revealing the workings and beauty of the universe, while discovering thousands of new worlds. This pioneering work will continue with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2018, and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope.
Grunsfeld, a fierce proponent of science education and five-time space shuttle astronaut, was the lead spacewalker during the last Hubble Space Telescope servicing flight in 2009, which successfully upgraded the observatory to the apex of its scientific capability. He’s also the last human to touch the iconic telescope. In April 2015, Hubble celebrated 25 years of operations, vastly outperforming its planned lifetime of 15 years. In 2015, Grunsfeld was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.
MEDIA ADVISORY M16-035 NASA Progresses Toward SpaceX Resupply Mission to Space Station
NASA provider SpaceX is scheduled to launch its eighth Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station on Friday, April 8. NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is targeted to lift off on the company's Falcon 9 rocket at 4:43 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida, carrying science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of the Expedition 47 and 48 crews.
NASA TV also will air two briefings on Thursday, April 7. At 1 p.m., scientists and researchers will discuss some of the investigations to be delivered to the station, followed by a briefing by mission managers at 3:30 p.m. The briefings also will stream live on the agency’s website.
About 10 minutes after launch, Dragon will reach its preliminary orbit, deploy its solar arrays and begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the space station.
The spacecraft will arrive at the station Sunday, April 10, at which time NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Tim Peake will use the station’s robotic arm to capture the Dragon spacecraft. Ground commands will be sent from Houston to the station’s arm to install Dragon on the bottom side of the Harmony module for its stay at the space station. Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture will begin at 5:30 a.m. on NASA TV, with installation set to begin at 9:30 a.m.
The following day, the crew will pressurize the space between the station and Dragon and open the hatch between the two spacecraft.
The Dragon spacecraft will deliver almost 7,000 pounds of supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital outpost and its crew. The cargo includes the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which will be attached to the space station to test the use of an expandable space habitat in microgravity. Scheduled to return to Earth in May, the Dragon spacecraft will bring back biological samples from astronauts, including those collected during NASA’s one-year mission.
The new experiments arriving to the station will help investigators study muscle atrophy and bone loss in space, use microgravity to seek insight into the interactions of particle flows at the nanoscale level and use protein crystal growth in microgravity to help in the design of new drugs to fight disease.
Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth on May 11. About five-and-a-half hours after it leaves the station, it will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.
Media at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will have the opportunity to participate in special tours and briefings on April 7 and 8, as well as view the launch. The deadline for media to apply for accreditation for this launch has passed. For more information about media accreditation, contact Jennifer Horner at 321-867-6598 or jennifer.p.horner@nasa.gov.
If the launch does not occur on Friday, April 8, the next launch opportunity is 4:20 p.m. Saturday, April 9, with NASA TV coverage starting at 3:15 p.m.
Digital Press Kit – Ames Involvement with SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)-8 Launch, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
The next cargo resupply service mission to the International Space Station by SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch at 1:43 p.m. PDT Friday, April 8.
The Dragon capsule will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of the Expedition 47 and 48 crews.
NASA's Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley will send five biology experiments to the International Space Station on the Dragon capsule.
Ames will host a free local event on its campus at Moffett Field, California, for registered members of the media and public.
Biology experiment information and resources:
Rodent Research-3:
The spaceflight environment is known to cause muscle loss (atrophy), similar to disuse and muscle wasting diseases on Earth. The Rodent Research-3 microgravity study will evaluate a countermeasure against muscle atrophy. Results of the Rodent Research-3 investigation are expected to increase our understanding of diseases, disorders and injuries affecting millions of people globally and to aid in the development of new therapeutics and strategies to treat such conditions.
The Rodent Research-3 investigation is sponsored by the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory. For this investigation, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space formed a commercial partnership with the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis. Ames developed the Rodent Research hardware system and is responsible for Rodent Research-3 mission integration and operations on the space station. BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado, Boulder, is the science integrator for Rodent Research-3.
Micro-10:
The Micro-10 investigation studies how the stress of microgravity triggers changes in growth, gene expression, physical responses, and metabolism of a fungus called Aspergillus nidulans (A. nidulans), an important biomedical research species. Results provide new data on how spaceflight affects fungi, including whether the fungi can be induced to make new molecular compounds that could be used for development of new drugs. The experiment is managed and supported by Ames, and the principal investigator is Cheryl Nickerson of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
Micro-9:
Micro-9 examines how spaceflight and microgravity affect the mechanisms of cell biology. The study will use multiple genetic strains of the yeast model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae (sack-ah-row-my-sees sara-vis-ee-ee) to enhance our understanding of how life responds to physical phenomena and physical forces. The study investigates specific mechanisms of yeast cell signaling and response to microgravity. This experiment is managed and supported by Ames and the principal investigator is Timothy G. Hammond, Institute for Medical Research, Inc., Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.
Microbial Tracking 1C:
Formerly known as Microbial Observatory-1, this experiment is a three-part investigation that seeks to characterize airborne and surface-associated populations of microorganisms aboard the International Space Station and will be conducted over three different SpaceX commercial cargo resupply missions, spanning months. Observations from the Microbial Tracking-1 study will provide NASA with information to estimate crew health and spacecraft performance risks stemming from microbial growth onboard a crewed space vehicle. Ames is the payload developer and implementer for the Microbial Tracking-1, and Ames also manages the Microbial Tracking-1 investigation. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena is the principal investigator for the investigation.
WetLab-2:
This is the first flight for WetLab-2, a new system for conducting quantitative, real-time gene expression analysis aboard the International Space Station. Gene expression analysis measures the activity of genes—functional units of genetic information. Station crew can use the WetLab-2 system to rapidly and safely prepare biological specimens for gene expression analysis, to conduct that analysis and to return data to investigators on Earth within hours. WetLab-2 is being developed at Ames under the leadership of the Ames International Space Station Utilization Office, benefiting from the expertise within the Space Biosciences Division and the Engineering Directorate. Julie Schonfeld, NASA's Ames Engineering Directorate, is the project manager for the investigation.
RELEASE S16-029 Stennis Space Center Marks 50th Anniversary of First Test
In April 1966, Lyndon Johnson was president of the United States, protests of the Vietnam War were growing, gas was priced at 32 cents per gallon, (You're My) Soul and Inspiration was the No. 1 song on the Billboard charts, Bonanza was the No. 1 television show in the country and Ronald Reagan was successfully campaigning to become governor of California.
Beyond Earth, the Russian spacecraft Luna 9 was on the surface of the moon, having soft landed in early February to send back the first photos from the lunar surface. Luna 10 was orbiting the moon, the first manmade craft to do so, while the United States was recovering from the Gemini 8 mission, which reached space but had to be aborted within hours because of a thruster malfunction.
Meanwhile, a group of NASA engineers and operators were tucked away in a small concrete building on a misty spring morning in south Mississippi, working last-minute issues in their attempt to test the first Saturn V rocket stage at what later would become Stennis Space Center.
They were entering their 25th consecutive hour as daylight began to grow on the morning of April 23. The countdown to test had begun the previous morning, with high-level visitors and television cameras on the scene to view and record the event.
Issue after issue, not entirely unexpected, arose through that first day and into the night. Some visitors left; others grabbed snatches of sleep wherever they could. Teams of technicians worked through the hours to address problem areas.
Finally, in the dawning gray of the day, a loudspeaker voice was heard, counting down at last into single digits – "5-4-3-2-1 .…" The bright red-and-orange flame came first, followed an instant later by the crack of ignition carried across the heavy air. "We have fire in the bucket!" someone announced.
Fifteen seconds later, the flame and sound ended as planned. The first Saturn V rocket stage test was complete, and it's hard to overestimate the impact of the event. The Space Age had arrived in south Mississippi, and the United States was headlong on its way to the moon.
As soon as President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to send humans to the moon by the end of the 1960s, there was no denying NASA would need a place to test the massive engines and rocket stages needed to meet that challenge. And, as soon as NASA announced plans to build such a test site in Hancock County, Mississippi, there was no denying the historical significance of the work that would be performed there. "I don't know yet what method we will use to get to the moon, but I do know that we have to go through Mississippi to get there," said Wernher von Braun, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and architect of early U.S. space exploration efforts.
"Go through Mississippi" is just what happened. Forty-three tests and 1,154 days after that first hot fire, Neil Armstrong, who had served as command pilot on that shortened Gemini 8 mission, would take "one giant leap for mankind" onto the surface of the moon. The rocket stages that carried him and 11 others to the lunar surface were all tested at Stennis.
This year, Stennis marks the 50th anniversary of that misty April day in 1966 and five decades of testing excellence in support of America's space program. In all those years, through both the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs, no mission ever failed as a result of a malfunction in a Stennis-tested engine.
"The record of excellence is continuing as we test engines for NASA's new Space Launch System Program, which will carry humans deeper into space than ever before and eventually to Mars," Center Director Rick Gilbrech said. "What started here in 1966 has grown tremendously. When you talk American space exploration, the road to deep space continues to run through Stennis."
There will be a lot of such talk in coming days. Many engineers and operators who enabled and witnessed the first test still live in the area. Others now working at Stennis are second- or third-generation family members who were brought up on the stories of the site's early days. "There is a real sense of history at this place," Gilbrech said. "We honor the past, but more importantly, we are adding new chapters to the history of human space exploration."
Indeed, Stennis has grown into the largest rocket engine test site in the nation. It is recognized as a center of excellence for rocket engine testing. NASA's rocket propulsion work across the agency is managed from the site. Every time the United States decides to send humans into space, its turns to Stennis.
Even private companies are doing so, as Orbital Sciences Corporation, SpaceX and Blue Origin all have partnered with NASA to test engines and components at Stennis. Well into its sixth decade of existence and beginning its sixth decade of engine testing, the site continues to prove its worth and value.
Stennis employees of the time understood the significance of the testing conducted in those early years. The race to the moon depended on them. However, they probably could only guess at what lay ahead: the 135 space shuttle missions, the variety of commercial engine testing, the upcoming tests to support and enable American's historic return to deep space.
As it turns out, April 23, 1966, was more than just a historic moment in time. It was the opening chapter in a story that continues to grow.
