Jul 27 2012
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-138 SPACE STATION CARGO SHIP DOCKING ATTEMPT TO AIR ON NASA TV
WASHINGTON -- As part of NASA's ongoing live coverage of mission operations aboard the International Space Station, NASA Television will broadcast the attempted redocking of an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft to the space station for engineering data collection beginning at 5 p.m. EDT Saturday, July 28. Docking is scheduled for 9 p.m. The ISS Progress 47 resupply ship arrived at the station in April and undocked from the Pirs docking compartment July 22. It made its first attempt to re-dock the following day. A technical problem prevented the spacecraft from reaching the space station, and its computers placed it a safe distance from the orbiting laboratory. Russian engineers are testing a new automated rendezvous system, called Kurs-NA, for possible use on future Russian spacecraft arriving at the station.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-139 NASA'S CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST, SPACE TECH HEAD VISIT HOUSTON'S OCEANEERING SPACE SYSTEMS
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Chief Technologist Mason Peck and Space Technology Program Director Michael Gazarik will visit Oceaneering Space Systems in Houston at 1 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, Aug. 1. Reporters are invited to join Peck, Gazarik and Oceaneering officials during the hour tour of the company's facility at 16665 Space Center Blvd. in Houston, which is near NASA's Johnson Space Center. Officials will be available to speak with reporters during the event. There also will be a photo opportunity with officials during the tour. Oceaneering develops cutting edge technologies and provides innovative solutions for NASA's technology challenges. The company provides robotic systems, spacesuits, tools and equipment for spacewalking, thermal protection systems (heat shielding) and other engineering and technical solutions. These technologies enable NASA's current and future missions -- technologies that also have commercial applications on Earth. To attend the tour, media representatives must arrive at Oceaneering by 12:45 p.m., Wednesday for clearance
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-240 NASA'S CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST VISITS SPACE FLORIDA'S SPACE LIFE SCIENCES LAB MONDAY
WASHINGTON -- NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck will visit Space Florida's Space Life Sciences Lab, located just outside of NASA Kennedy Space Center's security gates, on Monday, July 30 at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Peck will meet with Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello and small business leaders to discuss collaborative partnerships with NASA. Reporters are invited to join Peck and lab officials during the two and a half-hour tour of the facility, which is located on Space Commerce Way. The lab serves as the primary gateway for payloads bound for the International Space Station and is a leader in innovative approaches to research and development work in space. Research at the lab includes efforts to analyze plant growth in space aboard the station.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-141 NASA INVITES MEDIA TO VIEW THE MORPHEUS LANDER AT KENNEDY
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Media representatives are invited to view NASA's Morpheus lander at the agency's Kennedy Space Center at 3 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 1. The vehicle arrived at Kennedy Friday to begin a series of tests during the next three months. Morpheus is a prototype lander engineers can use to integrate technologies for future spacecraft that could land on a variety of destinations in our solar system. The technologies include a new propulsion system that uses liquid oxygen and methane, two "green" fuels that could be manufactured on other planetary bodies. Morpheus also is testing technology capable of identifying and avoiding surface hazards to enable a safe and accurate landing anywhere on a planetary surface and under any lighting conditions. Morpheus is one of 20 projects comprising the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program in NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. AES projects pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating capabilities and validating concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit. The lander underwent testing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for almost a year in preparation for its first free flight at Kennedy. Once Morpheus has performed several successful free flights there, it will fly about a half a mile -long approach that simulates avoiding hazards in a landing field. Teams have spent the last two months creating a hazard field of craters and rocks at the end of the runway of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). Repurposing the SLF for Morpheus testing is one of many projects under way at Kennedy. Across the space center, teams are preparing for the next generation of launch vehicles and spacecraft. The preparations include upgrading launch pads and the space shuttle crawler transporter, and modifying and refurbishing the Vehicle Assembly Building.
