Feb 6 2004
From The Space Library
ESA's Mars Express orbiter relayed information between ground-based NASA engineers and NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, the first in-orbit communication between ESA and NASA spacecraft and the first successful international communications network outside of Earth. As part of their general efforts to cooperate in space exploration, the two space agencies had planned the information relay to enable future cooperative use of their communications technologies during Mars missions. In this particular communication sequence, Spirit's operation personnel at NASA's JPL transferred commands for the rover to ESA's Space Operations Centre in Germany, which then transmitted the instructions to the Mars Express. The Express successfully commanded Spirit and, subsequently, relayed telemetry information from the rover to JPL via the Space Operations Centre. (NASA, “International Interplanetary Networking Succeeds,” news release 04-060, 12 February 2004.
NASA and the ISS partners announced crew assignments for the next two expeditions to the space station. NASA astronaut E. Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka would serve on Expedition 9, and NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan S. Sharipov would provide the crew for Expedition 10. In addition, Chiao and Sharipov would serve as the backup crew for Expedition 9, while NASA astronaut William S. McArthur Jr. and Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev would serve as the backup crew for Expedition 10. Although NASA and its partners had previously scheduled Tokarev to pair with Chaio on Expedition 10, the ISS partners had decided to replace Tokarev with Sharipov, because Sharipov had previously trained with Chiao. (NASA, “New Crews Named for 2004 Space Station Missions,” news release 04-056, 6 February 2004.
Jerome F. Lederer, NASA's first Director of Manned Space Flight Safety, died at the age of 101. Lederer, an aviation-safety expert, had introduced notable aviation-safety technologies, such as blinking anticollision lights and flight-data recorders. Lederer had started his career in aviation safety in 1926 as an aeronautical engineer for the U.S. Air Mail Service, where he had redesigned the service's airplanes to prevent them from igniting after crashes, a frequent cause of death of the pilots. In the 1950s, he had helped establish the agency that later became the FAA. In 1967, after a fire on Apollo 1 had killed three astronauts during a launchpad test, NASA had asked Lederer to establish an Office of Manned Space Flight Safety. In 1970 NASA had appointed Lederer as the safety director for all NASA activities. Lederer had retired two years later. Later, Lederer had taught at the University of Southern California and had served two three-year terms on the Advisory Council for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. (Stuart Lavietes, “J. F. Lederer, 101, Dies; Took Risk Management to the Sky,” New York Times, 9 February 2004.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
